Fall has definitely arrived. It went from 80 one day to 53 the next. Wisconsin weather is harsh. Anyway, Tuesday evening Adam went out and raked our backyard. Partly to get rid of some aggression, partly because there were a lot of leaves there and the city comes around to suck them up with their big vacuum trucks on Wednesdays. After dinner I joined him with a tarp and we hauled the leaves to the curb. It was incredibly windy but we still managed to get most of them in the pile.



Impressive, eh? And that’s just the first installment. We’ve still got most of the leaves on the big tree directly above the deck to deal with. They’re still on the tree though, so we have to wait.

In pet news, the cats are slowly (and I mean VERY slowly) warming up to the idea of coexisting with “the humans.” They have nightly stampedes back and forth from the computer room (their room) to the living room. It’s amazing how noisy two eight-pound furry things can be when they run. We got a cat playhouse contraption from one of Adam’s co-workers and they seem to enjoy it. Ted regularly hangs out in the teepee and Conner lounges one level above that. They both have started to venture further out from underneath the bed when Adam and I are home. We haven’t gotten to the point that they’ll let us touch them, but hopefully that will come soon. They’re letting us get closer and closer to them before they turn and run. Ted has taken to sleeping on our bed during the day, usually on my side. It’s cute, and as long as he doesn’t pee on it, I’m fine with him making himself comfortable there. We were warned when we adopted them that the other Katrina kitties had taken about two months to adjust to their new homes. We’re almost to the two month mark so we’ll have to determine what we want to do from there. Of course, we don’t want to take them back to the shelter. But we also don’t want cats who hide from us.

The guys of rodent persuasion are all doing fine. Although Mo seems to have a guinea pig version of PMS (yes, I realize Mo is male, but work with me here...) A while back he stopped eating and I got worried about him. Then he went back to normal. Now he’s not eating again. Grrr. I think it might be a ploy for attention. We have to keep the door to their room closed so I think he’s feeling deserted. I try to say hi every morning and before I go to bed and I cuddle with both Mo and Einstein a few times a week. I don’t know. I worry about him, but there’s not a good solution to the door issue. Einstein isn’t bothered by it. And Howie, Gus, and Barry seem to be more annoyed by my presence than pleased by it. Hopefully it works itself out again like it did last time.

Work has been pretty busy this month so far. I just finished September and can concentrate on getting as much normal October stuff taken care of before the internal auditors show up for two weeks. After they leave we’ll have PWC auditors here right during month-end. Nice timing guys. Gah. Not looking forward to that, but really, when does anyone look forward to meeting with the auditors?

Not much else is going on. I have an eye doctor appointment bright and early on Saturday morning. Then we plan to go down to Middleton to do some clothes shopping at Marshall’s. That’s pretty much our weekend plans.

A Weekend in a Fog

It was a strange weekend all around. The weather was definitely strange: Humid, hot, in the 80s all weekend. And I did yard work. That’s pretty strange too.

Saturday morning we did some shopping, mostly for pet stuff and our weekly grocery run. I spent a good deal of the afternoon napping, trying to trick my cold into getting better rather than worse. As usually happens when I’m feeling crappy, Adam got into a “must clean the house right now” mood and vacuumed and mopped the whole place. Well, excluding our bedroom, which he was kind enough to leave for later. There was football, a movie rented, pork grilled. I don’t know. It gets kind of fuzzy in my DayQuil enhanced state.

Sunday morning Adam went up to Menards to get some yard care equipment. And then, on the hottest October day ever, we proceeded to stand outside at high noon in the sun and humidity and trim back some bushes and trees that annoy him when he cuts the lawn. I’d take pictures, but even I can’t tell that we did anything so what’s the point? I managed to have a tree branch fall on my face but escaped with just a (relatively) small gash under my eye. My glasses were actually thrown off, but luckily they didn’t break and Adam didn’t step on them. Whew. Although I’m about six months overdue on a new pair so perhaps that would have gotten me off my butt to make the appointment. Ergh. We dropped the brush off in Greenville (shh… don’t tell anyone!) and went back home for lunch. We were both pretty beat after the physical activities of the morning so we ended up taking a nap for a few hours before the evening Packer game. I made a few snacks for dinner (see the cooking blog for more on that) and I managed to make it to about 10pm before I retreated to the bedroom. I think I dozed off for a bit (I missed Chicago’s last touchdown) but I was awake enough to know the Packers lost. Oh well. And it started off so well.

Messed with Template...

What do you think? Totally obnoxious?

Can't Blog, Am Tired

Now that I've caught up on some of the pictures I've taken and things I've cooked I can move on to more important things. Like what? I'm not sure, but there has to be more to my life than an IKEA catalog and Rachael Ray recipes.

My new month-end responsibilies have me slammed for about a week at the end/beginning of each month. Tomorrow will be the first day I might be able to actually see the surface of my desk. The shipping clerk who brings me paperwork each day has just shaken her head and laughed at me every day since last Friday. It's an organized chaos. Really. I just need a bigger desk. The fact that this is also quarter-end and the knowledge that I have a visit from the PWC guys (them be auditors people) at the end of this month hanging over my head doesn't help any. Oh well. Keeps me busy and time flies by.

Outside of work I haven't really done much in the last week and a half. IMA had our first ever lunch meeting and while I suppose it wasn't a roaring success (we had 13 people attend) I had fun since two of the ladies I used to work with when I interned at Presto came. We got to chat a little and catch up during the meal. Apparently I'm quite the legend over there. They tell me that people still talk about me and I was "the best intern ever." Wow... I feel bad for everyone who got the position after me. I guess I'm a hard act to follow. But it never feels bad to have unsolicited praise heaped on you.

Last Friday was quite possible The Worst Day Ever in quite a while. It was the last business day of the month so that meant it was Inventory Day. One of my newly acquired responsibilities is to coordinate and oversee the entire physical count each month. I also get to stop and get the donuts. I left the house at 6:30 so I could stop at Festival (way out of my way, but it's what the people like) and get to work a little early to do some last minute clean-up before the 7:45 blast off time. I got to work at 7:45. Something about a semi overturned on the highway. I saw no semi, but I was stuck on 41 for 45 minutes. By the time I finally got to work I was so frustrated that I was glad I could just walk around the plant by myself for an hour and a half to blow off some steam. Luckily the rest of the day went better but since day one is always hyper busy after work I was totally ready to go to a bar and drink beer and play darts. And that's what we did.

This week has been more of the same. Handbells and I'm not quite sure where the rest of the days went. I'm getting a cold (from either Adam or all the hacking ladies at work) so I'm hoping it's a low key weekend so it goes away fast. With Adam being home every night I've been hard core on the menu planning so if I can keep up with the recipe posting the other blog might be more interesting soon.

That's about it.

It's a Good Read

But so tempting...

It's Definitely Fall

Grr. I can't get it to rotate. Stupid internet...

Pretty New Fireplace Doors

If you recall our "kitties in the fireplace problem", we decided to get the glass doors for the fireplace ordered and on sooner rather than later. With just a little, "oops, I broke another drill bit", Adam and his dad got the doors on and secured.

Before:


After:

Weekend in Review

Friday night I had a get-together with the group of classmates and professors I’ve kept in touch with from college. We were a smaller group than normal because one of us was on vacation in Turkey (I know, weird, Turkey’s not on my top ten list of places to visit either, but whatever…) and another was sick. But we made do and I was the only female attendee. Woo. This meant a lot of football and baseball talk that went over my head, but that’s ok. It’s like talking to Adam is sometimes. We went to Pullman’s (yes, again, not my idea, just bad planning) and I got there at 6:30, the designated time, and found no one else there. They all arrived at one time at around 6:45. I had put my name on the list for an inside table since it was supposed to thunderstorm but they all wanted to brave the outdoors rather than wait half an hour. So we got seated, put in drink orders (Stella!) and braved the windy conditions. When we began to see lightning in the distance and the wind really picked up we asked to be put on the list inside (which had now become an hour wait) and be moved to a table on the leeward side of the restaurant. We got a table under the eaves of the building and it was much less windy. We ordered our food (from the second waiter of our evening) and as we waited it began to sprinkle. The wait staff was taking umbrellas down and removing anything not cemented down so we thought perhaps we should ask to be moved in sooner rather than later. They were able to get us a tiny table up by the bar. Luckily we were a small group or else we would have been out of luck. Our food came shortly after we sat down and we did our best to eat without stabbing each other with our silverware or dropping our food in our laps. We had great seats to the many big tvs in the bar with the Brewers game on. We met our third and final waiter of the evening and after some confusion were able to get additional drinks and other requests taken care of. We were in the way of pretty much everyone who wanted to come into to or leave the bar area including wait staff and patrons. Oh well. We ate, watched the game until the top of the 9th, and then some of us took our leave. It was still pouring outside and I ran to my car, getting completely soaked. I knew I should have been selfish and lazy and taken the open spot right in front of the door when I had arrived. I got home around 9:30, dried off, and called it a night.

Saturday morning Adam’s dad came over so they could finish the cement work out underneath the deck. I stayed out of their way by watching Volver in the bedroom. I hadn’t realized it was in Spanish so when we had started watching it about a week ago Adam sat through about five minutes of it and couldn’t deal with the subtitles. It was an ok movie, kind of weird, but I suppose that’s what Almodóvar is all about. At least I didn’t have to deal with Penelope Cruz attempting to speak English. Her accent is so obnoxious. Anyway, after I finished with that I showered and got ready for the day. When the cement was done we did some shopping. We’re getting to be regular fixtures at the home improvement stores: Home Depot, Menards, Lowe’s. We stopped at my remaining two banks to take care of my name change stuff (which took forever!) We also dropped some change at Petsmart, stocking up on kitty supplies. Our last stop was Walmart for a variety of household and personal items including an Oust air freshener for the cat room. They are stinky fellows. We debated a few ideas for our evening but ended up sitting at home. Adam watched the Badger game while I started in on my first season of "Dawson’s Creek" DVDs, Adam’s wedding present to me (the complete series on DVD – excellent since TBS quit showing re-runs for me to DVR.)

Sunday we slept in a little (until almost 8:15!) and after reading the paper and eating breakfast Adam went off to exchange one kind of cement for another so he could finish up blocking the window in the basement. I planned to get gas (my light was flashing at me so I figured it would be a good idea) and then go to Kohl’s to search out the perfect pair of socks. I guess someone had other plans because as I got back into my car after filling the tank I was stung two or three times by a hornet that had flown up my pants. I, of course, didn’t know that at the time. I just got sharp pains on my upper leg as I sat down. I got back out of the car and tried to get it out of my pants but I wasn’t having any luck. So I got back into the car, high-tailed it back home (thankfully the gas station is pretty much right across the street from the house), parked (crappier than usual) and ran inside to de-pants. I still didn’t see my attacker but at that point I didn’t really care. I got out the baking soda, rubbed some onto the two most obvious points of entry, and laid down. After ten minutes or so I got back up and moved my car into the garage so when Adam got home he’d be able to park. When he returned he called me into the dining room to show me what had gotten me. Apparently it had been hiding in my shoe. Nice. Anyway, that pretty much shot all my plans for shopping. I contented myself by making lunch (crispy chicken wings and spinach-artichoke dip), watching some football, continuing in my "Dawson’s Creek" watching, and trying not to sit on my right butt cheek. It’s ok now and it’s good that I’m not allergic to bee-stings at all. It still sucked though. It seems I was having a bad day or something. In addition to the bee-sting I managed to drop almost an entire carton of eggs on the floor while making breakfast and I got attacked by baking sheets while making lunch. Ok, so perhaps that evidence indicates that I should quit cooking... in any case, a frustrating day to end the weekend. Oh well. Can only get better, right?

Unexpected Humor

As I was reviewing payables batches this afternoon I got a laugh from one of the receiving documents. This is the note from one of the guys out there: “Accepted per Purchasing, but driver must have hit a skunk. PROFUSE ODOR.” You never know what you’ll find on some of this paperwork that will just make you smile…

Weird News

Weirdest Headline Ever: Police Taser driver, find live chicken in trunk

Cliff Notes version of just another redneck night in Sheboygan: A drug dealer gets pulled over, resists arrest, and takes off. Cop #1 chases him, gets him down, but the guy gets back up only to be tasered by a Cop #2. Unfortunately Cop #1 is still struggling with the suspect so he gets tasered too. (Whoops.) When the car is searched later they find a chicken in the trunk. The suspect’s explanation? He got it from a fast-food restaurant. (Hmm, did they forget to cook it?) Wow, this one’s full of comedic possibility…

And have you heard about the guy who sued God? I think the funniest part of the whole article is this: “There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness.”

Some people are nuts.

For instance, this guy. The guy admits to throwing the onion at his wife but says he didn't mean to hit her. The wife told police it made her head hurt.

Duh.

IMA Begins

The first IMA meeting of the season went pretty well, I’d say. I got there very early (kind of by accident – I wasn’t sure where the place was and didn’t want to get lost) and had plenty of time to set up. I was thrown somewhat of a curveball in that the organizer of the venue neglected to inform me that I’d be collecting dinner choices while collecting money and checking people in. It was a little chaotic during the big rushes of people but I managed. We usually have family-style dinners so some people were thrown off by having a choice. I nicely requested that next time we have a venue where members are required to choose between two or three entrees that we mention that in the newsletter so they can tell me their choice when they RSVP. That way I avoid the evil eyes of the impatient waitresses.

The meeting was at Pullman’s, a new place out by the river. It is owned by the same people who own Good Company, the location of our rehearsal dinner, so a lot of the food is similar including the yummy garlic mashed potatoes. I didn’t attend the PD session – I was busy with some administrative stuff and wanted to stay in the room by my cashbox since I had started collecting money early before the speaker showed up. I spent a good half hour alone in the room, watching beach volleyball in the bar through the door. I was able to get out from behind my table for a bit and sell some raffle tickets before dinner began. I ate quickly as usual and got my cash reconciled before the after-dinner speaker began so I didn’t have to be rude. The after-dinner session was much more of a Q&A, interactive thing than we’ve had before. The mayor and the director of the Appleton Downtown were there to talk about projects currently in the works for downtown and around the Fox River. It was interesting to see what’s coming in the future and what people are concerned about. We learned that they’ll be tearing down the College Street Bridge in May of next year and it will be out for almost two years. Yikes. That will create some challenges. Luckily I don’t go that way very often (I generally use 441 or another route) but it will still be an interesting time. They’ll be putting in a roundabout at the end of the bridge and I can’t wait to see how inept people are at maneuvering through it. Roundabouts are not rocket science, yet people around here can’t seem to figure them out.

The speakers went a bit long but it was good to see everyone so engaged in the topic. Not like the tax update presentations in November where everyone is falling asleep. :) Our chapter meeting was pretty short – all we had were some announcements and my two raffles. The board meeting was another story. It went on and on. I suppose we got some good stuff done (a lot of it was treasurer related and some educational fund requests) but it seemed tedious. After we adjourned I gathered up all my stuff, stopped at Walgreens to pick up my prescription (only cost me $8!!) and went home. *big sigh*

We have a second meeting this month – a lunch meeting next Wednesday. This is completely uncharted territory for the chapter and no one is sure what to expect. I’ll be taking about 1 ½ hours off from work for it since I have to be there before anyone else to take their money. We’ll see how it goes. So far the RSVP list isn’t too impressive – just 13 – but they still have some time to sign up.

It looks to be the start of a good program year.

Movie Commentary

I saw a couple movies recently, one of which got me closer to my Oscar Challenge completion. I just may get to them all before next year’s nominations come out.

Anyway, we went and saw The Nanny Diaries in the theater a few weekends ago using a gift card we got as a wedding gift. (Yay.) The movie itself wasn’t that impressive and although I really like Scarlett Johanssen, I’m not sure I liked this movie. It was kind of boring and pointless. Sure, there are a few fairly good laugh moments but that’s about it. Yes, there is a subset of people out there who this movie is about. I don’t know any of them. I’m not one of them. I can’t relate. That’s about it.

The second film was Children of Men. I watched this one alone one night a couple weeks ago when Adam was watching wrestling (or Ultimate Fighting, which I’m told is NOT WRESTLING as they are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.) This movie was like Blood Diamond in that it was a whole lot of fighting. It was unlike Blood Diamond in that I was able to watch the whole thing. It might have helped that it had a distopic, futuristic plot, and we all know how much I enjoy those. I’m not a fan of Clive Owen (he’s kind of funny-looking and that distracts me) but it was an ok film. Plot twists, who’s the good guy? issues, and the quest to save the human race. Good, clean, movie-based fun. I probably wouldn’t watch it again because it just didn’t interest me that much. But at least I got through it once which is more than I can say for some other movies.

And Now, Finally...The Day Before & The Wedding

Well, despite my failing to keep up with posting during those last couple days before the wedding, things proceeded and everything went remarkably well.

Thursday and Friday were very busy days. Thursday morning Adam went to go get his tux only to discover that his shirt was about 6 inches too short. He stopped at Casual Male to get a replacement later in the day. Catherine and I caught up on some of my DVR shows. When Adam got home we went to the florist to check out the flower arrangements. After that we parted ways for most of the day. Catherine and I got some lunch and then headed up to Adam’s parents’ house for our makeup test run with Sarah.

We finished up there quicker than anticipated and decided to go over to The Meadows early. Adam’s sisters came along as did Catherine (the roommate.) We started decorating the hall with favors and other décor. Because we had so much extra help (Adam and Tony showed up a little after we got there) we finished up in about half an hour. After some final confirmations and the like with the hall I paid the bill and we were off.

Adam went back home while I took Catherine (the sister) to her hotel to check in. We happened to pull in right as my mom and June got there. They got checked in successfully and I called my dad and brother to see where they were. We hung out in the lobby for a little while until Evan and Jodi showed up. We helped them haul their stuff to their room and socialized until Catherine and I had to leave to go get our nails done. I got fake ones put on and that was an experience! I'd never had anything done to my nails so the dentist-like drill sounding thing she used to buzz down my nails was a little scary. But they turned out great. Much better than my normal, wussy nails. My one complaint is that they were so smooth I couldn't scratch anything. If I had an itch I had to just rub it vigorously.

After nails were done we went back to the hotel to check on everyone. Dad and Cheryl were there by then and we agreed to meet them at the church. We headed over for the rehearsal. Shockingly, everyone was there on time. Good job guys! It was pretty painless and a fun time. We went to Good Company for the dinner. Gifts were given, conversations were had, and I hope everyone had as good a time as I did. It was nice to have everyone together and for my family to meet Adam's.

After the dinner Catherine, Catherine, my mom, and June headed back to our house where we played a few rousing rounds of Snorta. (See previous post about this game...) Everyone went home, I did some final prep work, took a shower, and went to bed.

I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. I don't think it was nerves but who knows. I woke up because I had three questions that we hadn't thought of and I needed them answered. But I just wrote them down and left them for Adam to deal with. And he did. Which was good. I got up and showered (with a shower cap on) and got dressed. My mom, June, and Catherine showed up around nine. My mom and I left June and Catherine to their own devices while we took a walk around the park across from our house. When we returned the three of them serenaded me with some schmaltzy tunes before we gathered up everything we needed and headed to the hair salon.

We arrived a bit early because I'm still not sure exactly how to get there but they were waiting for us. My hair went up pretty quickly and everyone else was able to get a style they liked. Even my mom gave it a shot.

After everyone’s hair was done we stopped at Erbert and Gerbert’s to pick up lunch. I felt slightly ridiculous going into the restaurant with my glammed-up hair and tiara. But what are you going to do? We took the lunches back to Adam’s parents’ house. Evan, Jodi, and Gabriel were already there along with Sarah and Adam’s parents. We ate lunch together and although I didn’t eat much (half of the sandwich and some water) it was a good time. It was nice to see my family and his getting along so well. After lunch Evan, Jodi, Gabriel, my mom, and June all took off to go back to the hotel to get changed. Sarah did my makeup and then Catherine (the sister) helped me get dressed while the other Catherine got made-up. After everyone was prettied up and dressed we hopped into Sarah’s car (well, in my case, I shoved myself into the car) and headed to the church.

As we came up 8th, Sarah and Catherine saw that the guys were standing outside the front of the church and yelled, “DUCK!” I reflexively put my head down to hide in the backseat. Adam tells me that they were getting pictures taken and he didn’t even notice we were there, but it was still a close call. Adam’s mom opened up the door at the back of the church and we snuck down to the Bride’s Room the back way. We hung out for awhile. Katie, my mom, Adam’s mom, and various other people (including the photographer) popped in and out in the time before the ceremony. We played “Duh!” for a bit to pass the time. The Catherine’s were stolen away for a little while to take pictures with Adam. Then my sister and I made our first joint trip to the bathroom since it’s pretty much impossible to go by yourself while wearing an enormous white dress. Interesting experience… At least I can take comfort in the fact that she’s a med student so perhaps she can write it off as practical experience. Anyway, as 3:30 came and went I started to get antsy. I had been told that Fr Mike would call me on the phone when they were ready so I kept staring at the phone, willing it to ring. Instead, Katie came down to get us when the time came. We rode the elevator up and got into position, the Catherine’s at the edge of the back of the church and me hiding further back. As the guys came out and the processional started, the roar of a train and its whistle could be heard outside. Of all the times for a train to pass… Geesh.

There are certain times in your life where you’re overcome with this surreal feeling. You’re not sure if it’s your life you’re living and you just move without thinking. I got this same feeling during my high school and college graduations. There are pictures of me walking up to get the diplomas, shaking important peoples’ hands, but I really don’t remember it too well. This is how it felt to walk down that aisle toward the front of the church. Yes, I definitely concentrated on not tripping and keeping my dad off my dress, but other than that my mind was clear. I have no idea who was in the pews and since my back was to them most of the ceremony I couldn’t peek later on. We got to the front, my dad made small talk with Adam for what seemed like forever (in his defense, he was just following Fr Mike’s instructions) and then we got started. I had been concerned about the kneeling thing in the dress and big shoes. There was no need to worry. The dress kind of padded my knees and I had no trouble getting up and down in the shoes. Whew!

The ceremony is a little clearer in my mind than the trip down the aisle to get there was. There were certainly times where I really had to concentrate to make sure I said the right thing into the microphone. I could just see myself saying, “I, Adam” or something equally stupid. But most of the time it was just listening to what Fr Mike had to say and standing up and kneeling. Everything went well. No one tripped, there wasn’t a baby meltdown from the pews, nothing caught on fire, Dave remembered the rings (although Adam put mine on backwards…), everything went as planned.

After the ceremony we came back up to the front to have the marriage license signed and take pictures. It went pretty quickly and was almost painless. I say “almost” because almost everyone who took pictures with me kept yanking my veil. It was attached to my head! Ouch. The pictures in the church were mostly family with a few singles of me and some wedding party. When we were done Catherine (the roommate) bustled my dress while the guys messed around with our flowers. We headed outside where I decided it might be prudent to remove the veil since it was pretty windy.

Adam and I got into his car (closely followed by the photographer, snapping away) while the other members of the wedding party divided themselves. We went to City Park for the second round of photos. There were some people at the fountain as we arrived but they left soon after. We took pictures in front of a garden-looking area first. While we were there a group of high-school aged hoodlums on bikes showed up and started screaming, laughing, and jumping around in the fountain (interesting, since there’s a sign that clearly states “no jumping in the fountain.”) We managed to avoid them and even got to take some pictures in front of the fountain. The problem with that was the wind kept blowing in our direction so we were getting wet. Adam and I took a couple more pictures by a tree and then walking back to the car. The photographer actually got in the back seat of the car this time and took more pictures before we left for the reception.

When we arrived at The Meadows (earlier than anticipated!) we waited outside for the DJ. We ran into my uncle John and my friend Tina and swore them to secrecy before we let them go inside. The DJ came out to do a final confirmation of some stuff and then we went inside to wait in the foyer for our Grand March.
We were announced, went to the table, and then stood there for a minute looking dumb since we didn’t know how to tell people that’s all we had, go back to the apps. We went over by the cake, cut it, had some good photo ops, and then the party could start. We tried to say hi to everyone there but I’m sure we missed some people. Everyone looked like they were having fun and it was good to see everyone mingling. We were a little late getting the head table to start dinner because we kind of lost track of time. Oh well. We had some toasts, Fr Bob said grace, and then dinner started. The food was wonderful. Yummy potatoes. After dinner came cake and although it was delicious I couldn’t even eat an entire piece. (Fear not, I made up for it with the top layer we took home.)

We had our first dance to Clay Aiken’s “Everything I Have” (Adam probably hates that I just told everyone we danced to Clay Aiken!) and even though the song is only something like three and a half minutes long it seemed like forever. After that the DJ took over and people danced. We did the bouquet toss (which I sucked at) and garter toss. Then we got to make Tony and Paula dance together which is always the best part. I got a little scared when guests started what seemed like a mass exodus. Lots of people did leave by about 8:30, but enough people stuck around and were having fun that we were able to make it to 10:30 (versus an 11:00 original stopping point.) After the last dance we pow-wowed with the parents to make sure they had their instructions and then we took off.

We got back home and I immediately had Adam let me out of the dress. It wasn’t really that uncomfortable, but the sequins on the bodice had left a rash on my arms and I really wanted to get out of the boning and strapless bra. And the garter. The stupid garter cut off the circulation to my leg and left a big indent. And my feet… my poor feet! Ugh. Anyway, after de-dressing I stood in the bathroom undoing my hair. I counted 31 bobby pins of varying sizes and two tiny rubber bands. And a can of hairspray, some putty stuff of some kind, and lots of hard work with a curler. After I managed to extract all the pins and foreign objects I stood in the shower, letting all the crap dissolve while trying not to yank on the snarls. It all came out pretty well and left my hair just slightly frizzy the next day. And then we went to bed.

The next morning we were up bright and early to finish packing, get ready for a week away from the house, and prepare for our impromptu breakfast party. Everyone showed up, enjoyed some donuts, divided up our leftover cake, dropped off all the stuff from the reception, and had a good time until we kicked them out so we could get to the airport. Although I suppose we didn’t have to be as rude as we were since our flight was delayed over an hour and a half. Oh well.

So, there’s my recap of the wedding. Hey, I’m only a month late…

As far as I know, everything went off without a hitch. If there were any problems, everyone did a great job of hiding them from me. The flowers were gorgeous and everyone who has seen the pictures comments on them. My hair was great and it looks very red in all the pictures. The food was wonderful, the cake rocked, the venue was lovely. My only complaint, perhaps, might be the DJ. He kept playing songs that no one was dancing to. And he kept playing songs that I’m not sure you CAN dance to. And he was not as interactive as I’d anticipated. But, oh well, as long as people had fun it’s ok. I was happy with how it all turned out. Now I just need to get my act together and put the hundreds of photos into the photo album.

Oversharing Blog Post #too many

Hopefully this can be the last over-sharing blog posting for a while. Believe me, I’m getting just as tired of it as you are. I was going to try and do one of those expandable post things so you could click if you wanted to read all of this but it looked too complicated. So read on if you'd like. Or don't. It's your choice. We're all adults here.

I had mentioned a while back that at my last doctor’s appointment they gave me Seasonique in place of the Seasonale I’d been on for the past two years because it mysteriously quit working (tons of breakthrough bleeding.) I started taking the Seasonique right away and for about a month things were fine. And then in the middle of July it started. It went on and on, ebbing and flowing, completely unpredictable, uncontrollable, a constant frustration. I had to break down and buy maxi-pads for the first time in about six or seven years because I couldn’t predict when it would start or stop so I didn’t want to use tampons. There were days I actually had to take drugs to be able to function because I was cramping so badly. The Wednesday before the wedding was one of those days. After returning from the drive-in with Adam and Catherine I laid down in bed, took two Pamprin, and tried to relax my discontented uterus.

I had considered calling the doctor in the week before the wedding to see if there was anything they could do to help me out, but I didn’t. I probably should have. On Friday morning it was still there. At that point, though, there was really nothing I could do about it except make the best of the situation. Luckily it wasn’t turbo-style, just an annoyance, but it still lingered at the back of my mind throughout the whole day. When we left for Alaska it was a minor inconvenience. But by Wednesday it was back with a vengeance and made the excursion in Skagway almost unbearable. It was the longest one – an eight hour bus/train ride up to Yukon and back – and let me tell you it’s not a pleasant situation, being stuck in a bus for hours in that condition. I stayed sitting in the back of the bus most of the time. I didn’t want to risk standing up because it was such a disgusting feeling. We missed our opportunity to get our picture taken by the “Welcome to the Yukon Territories” sign because I’d decided I couldn’t wait and tried to go to the bathroom on the bus. By the time I came back out everyone was back on the bus. I broke down in the back of the bus, fearing I was ruining our honeymoon because my stupid body refused to cooperate. I’m tearing up even writing about it now.

I know it was frustrating for Adam too but really there was nothing either of us could do about it. I had not anticipated it would reappear so fully (blindly optimistic of me, I suppose) so I was forced to buy overpriced stuff from the ship’s store in brands I didn’t like just to survive it. Wednesday was definitely the worst day and though it remained a bother, I was able to function and deal with it a lot better for the duration of the trip since it was confined to just one area rather than attacking my whole body at one time.

This, of course, led to discussions about what we were going to do when we returned. I had considered throwing the Seasonique into the ocean half way through the trip but I reconsidered that when I realized that I was completely unprepared for a full-blown appearance. So I kept taking the pills although I abandoned my 7AM on the dot concern to which I had remained so religious. I stopped taking them the Sunday we got back. And, true to my prediction, was soon thereafter hit by the full-blown, hormone-control-deprived results. Without anything foreign in my system it went through its usual route and was gone about a week later. For the first time in over two months I could get dressed without worrying about getting the towel dirty or deciding which level of protection to go with.

*sigh*

But this still left us with the decision of what to do. I had actually talked through this a little over lunch with Catherine (the sister) on the day before the wedding. I know there are many non-hormonal birth control methods out there. My problem is I like most of the effects of the hormonal methods. I was on a 28-day pill for a couple years back in college and it was great. And even the Seasonale worked wonderfully for almost two years. I went on the 91-day pill to avoid all the side-effects of my natural cycle. I’m all for having something control it a little. Plus, most non-hormonal methods require, uh, planning (ahem.) We’re lazy. It’s much easier for me to pop a pill every morning.

So I called my doctor yesterday afternoon to request a prescription for the 28-day pill again. It’s not my ideal solution but I’m hoping it will solve my breakthrough problems (as in, there should be no unexpected bleeding. EVER!) and will be a satisfactory and dependable birth control method until it’s decided to un-control birth. We'll see how it goes.

Weekend Recap (and my new hideous driver's license picture)

With Adam no longer working every weekend we’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the two days we didn’t previous have to spend together. This weekend his parents were out of town so he couldn’t spend most of Saturday outside working on filling in the leaky basement window like he did last weekend. Instead we did some power shopping on Saturday morning. We were originally going to go look at snow-blowers but after some thought we decided to wait on that to see how much snow we actually get at the house. He warned me that I might be recruited to shovel but we’ll see about that. :) We went to Home Depot to use up some gift cards we got and bought fire extinguishers (a little late…) and rakes (a little early...) We also looked at what they had for fireplace doors since we plan to replace the shoddy screen with glass doors to keep the cats out and the soot and ashes in. We have all the evidence we need to know that the cats have already been exploring it.



The only size they carried in the store was the medium and we needed the large. So we went to Lowe’s to see what they had. All of their glass doors were by special order only and since we had a lot of gift cards we picked up the brochure to look at and think about. We also picked up a fan dimmer switch since Adam wanted to change the fireplace fan to be adjustable. We stopped by Menards to see if they still carried stand alone glass doors but discovered they carried only the same kind of doors with a frame that Home Depot and Lowe’s had. We went home and Adam changed the fan switch over without electrocuting himself. We then went back to Lowe’s and ordered the fireplace doors since we couldn’t do it online because we had an additional 10% off coupon. We got the doors and some random hardware (for hanging the fire extinguishers) for less than $20. Yay for gift cards! We stopped by Walmart on the way home to pick up a gazillion pictures and announcement cards I’d printed the night before. Adam baked our second batch of Amish friendship bread (yum) and watched some football while I cleaned hamster cages and prepped the announcements and pictures. We headed over to Menasha for the Rotary Club’s Seafood Fest for dinner. It was a decent-sized event with live music and very reasonably priced (and good) food. It was a bit chilly but we walked a little by the lake before heading back home. On Sunday we went up to Green Bay to visit with Adam’s grandmother (and restock on cookies.) We stopped for some shoes and additional pictures before getting back home to watch the Packer game. I spent most of it putting honeymoon pictures in the photo albums and doing laundry. Adam painted the garage side-entry door this weekend and we started stacking firewood in the storage space next to the fireplace inside the house as well. All in all I think we did ok for keeping busy.

My week is a little busier than usual with hand bells tonight, IMA tomorrow, and a UWO accounting group get-together on Friday. I went to the DMV during lunch today and would have been in and out in about 5 minutes except for the fact that the teller I went to couldn’t figure out how to change my name on my car title. She sat there clicking around on her screen and getting frustrated for about 15 minutes. She finally got fed-up and told me to go to a different clerk. She was able to do it in 2 minutes, I got my picture taken, and was out of there. *sigh* It never goes smoothly at the DMV. So I am now officially a Paalman:



I’ve sent off most of the notifications to change my name elsewhere. Now if I could only get the HR person at work to get me the paperwork. Our new checks arrived on Saturday along with my new debit cards. Things are going well.

The Aftermath of a Wedding

1) My nails are in terrible shape. You can tell exactly how much they’ve grown in the past month because you can see where they filed the heck out of them before gluing on the fake nails. It’s going to take some time for them to grow enough to get rid of the ugliness that also makes them break off in sheets a lot faster than normal. Argh. I think this is a thinly veiled ploy by the nail salons. They make your real nails look like crap so you have to keep going back to them to make them look pretty…

2) Adam is constantly telling me that I need a hair cut. I started growing my hair out last year so the hair stylist would have a little more to work with. I haven’t cut it since a week before the wedding. Adam wants me to chop it off back to above my shoulders. I want to grow it out indefinitely. Let the power struggle begin.

3) I have a wedding dress taking up room in the guest room closet because I can’t decide what I want to do with it. I really don’t have any reason to keep it other than the fact that it’s, well, my wedding dress. I’m 99.99% sure I’ll never wear it again. I don’t plan to keep it for a hypothetical daughter of mine to wear. So I’m at an impasse. Do I get it cleaned and preserved and keep it in the back of the closet or in the basement? Do I sell it (on eBay, to a consignment store, etc.)? People I’ve talked to so far are divided. There are those who look horrified when I suggest I might sell my wedding dress. Others are of the more practical camp and understand that it takes up space and is pretty much useless. I don’t know. I suppose I should decide eventually.

4) Along the same lines we also have a unity candle, wedding bears, and a bunch of other wedding stuff from the reception. Are you supposed to keep that stuff? Is it wrong to throw it in a box in the basement? Are you supposed to display it somewhere?

5) We still haven’t gotten around to printing any of the hundreds of reception and honeymoon photos. We recently got the professional pictures back and they’re sitting in a box by the computer. I think we need to go photo album and picture frame shopping…

6) My name-change process is moving along slowly. The corporate HR person at work is having problems getting me the paperwork (read: She keeps “forgetting” to send them to me through the intercompany mail system…) so although my email has the correct name, my paycheck, benefits, and 401(k) are all wrong still. I’ve changed my name at our main bank and ordered new checks with the correct address as well. I have a couple more credit cards to change along with the second bank. That’s the bank where the mortgage is though so I have a few more steps over there since I need to add Adam to that (well, not to the mortgage, but to the house deed.) My new SS card arrived today so I can get my new license now. Then we'll head to the insurance company and hope that our rates go down now. It’s going along easier than I anticipated but I’m sure I’ll still be in last name limbo for a few more months.

7) Thank-you cards have all been sent out for gifts received. I tried to do that as soon as I could so I didn’t forget about it. It seems like such a tedious process and most people (myself included) probably don’t really even read them unless you’re close to the person. Meh. Etiquette is annoying.

8) I’m already tired of people asking, “So, how’s married life?” It’s not really that different from “living in sin life.” What has changed? I guess I’ve got a slightly heavier ring to wear. I don’t know. It’s not that getting married wasn’t important. I just don’t see the life-changing aspects of it. Maybe I’m missing something or I need an attitude adjustment. Or perhaps since Adam and I lived together for awhile before we made it official I went through that transition a long time ago. I don’t really remember moving in together being some big shock or struggle though. It went pretty smoothly. But maybe I’m repressing memories… We do annoy each other occasionally, that’s for sure. We both have habits that the other finds obnoxious but that’s just how it goes. We’ve managed to be married for 27 days without fighting. Yay for us!

9) Fortunately the “So, when are you going to have kids?” questioning hasn’t started up yet. Well, except for one of our waitresses on the cruise ship. She served us at Le Bistro for our complementary honeymoon package meal/wine/cake deal. When she discovered we had just gotten married she suggested that perhaps we could start our family while on the cruise. I just laughed. No way.

10) I don’t really have anything else wedding related to say here but I figured a list with ten items was better-looking than a list with nine. Wait, I lied. We’ll be sending out announcements soon… whenever we get our act together and print some pictures. *sigh*

Cats, Part Deux

Adam managed to get a photo of both cats - by laying on the floor and sticking the camera upside-down under the bed. Meh, whatever works.

Ted is on the left, Conner on the right.


We took down the cage this morning and are content to let them roam free together since they apparently get along just fine and Ted's cold seems to be gone.

Professional Wedding Photos...

can be found here. Enjoy! We've got a copyright release if any of you want to print any of them. Let us know if you need a copy!

Kitties!

This past Wednesday night we went out to the Saving Paws shelter to take a look at two cats we saw on their website we were interested in. Their names are Conner and Theodore. And they are the newest members of our growing menagerie of animals. Here's Theodore (who I've taken to calling Ted):



He's in a cage right now for a few reasons. 1 - He and Conner are both cats who were rescued from down in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. They are a little traumatized. 2 - He and Conner don't know each other so we want to avoid an all out Kitty Death Match fight. 3 - He has a kitty cold and Conner has giardia (a parasite thing in his digestive system) so we want to keep them apart for that reason as well. He doesn't seem to mind it much and should be able to be out of the cage in a week or so.

I don't have a picture of Conner as he is a master hider and wouldn't stay in my sight long enough to get one. He looks a lot like Conner, but a little bigger.

The Final Damage - Our Wedding Budget Results

This is the most complete breakdown of our wedding budget you'll probably get. Now that it's over I'm less likely to analyze it further. So here we go (along with the huge space blogger inserts when you put a table in...):

Category	Amount
Administrative	236.62
Gifts (all)	809.42
Bridal Fashion	1,169.89
Bridesmaid Lunch	70.26
Cake	428.60
Cameras	106.87
Ceremony	34.96
DJ	615.00
Favors	193.41
Hair & Nails	227.96
Honeymoon	5,432.17
Photography	1,984.50
Postage	95.15
Reception (Food, Linens)	1,760.40
Reception Décor	407.28
Rings (excludes engagement)	1,018.48
Stationery	105.99
Grand Total	14,696.96

You may notice a few categories missing: flowers, alcohol at the reception, to mention a couple. This is because Adam's parents generously covered those categories so I have no information about costs since we didn't pay for them. My parents also chipped in a bit but they are of the "here's some money, do with it what you will" camp so I did include the dollar amounts from their categories in our totals.

Any questions, feel free to ask. I might have done some creative combining to get the number of categories down.

In other wedding news, we got an email from our photographer with a link to our proofs. It's password protected so I can't share them but I browsed through them a few days ago and it looks like there's a lot of good stuff there. More on that in the future.

Identity Crisis and a Guy with a Gun

Gah! Falling behind on blog posting!

Anywho, forget the weekend because I'm probably not going to get around to talking about it. You can see the great tree chopping from the last post. We also did some shopping. Had some people over for a cook out last night. That's about it.

Today I went to the Social Security Administration building during lunch to apply for a new card in the Paalman name. Did you know they have armed guards at the SSA office? A dinky little building in downtown Oshkosh and they've got a big guy with a gun sitting at a table when you walk in. And they have an automated machine to give you a number that the clerks never call. In any case, it was a piece of cake and I should have my new card in 7 to 10 days. Then I get to go wait in a line at the DMV. Then I get to wait for months to get everything else changed. Woo.

I'm kind of in a Paalman/Dodds limbo. I'm Paalman at work but Dodds pretty much everywhere else. It's an identity crisis of kinds. Who am I? Luckily my initials are pretty easy to fudge a D to a P or vice versa.

In other news, I finally went through all our pictures and weeded out the crap so we can go ahead and print them. I ended up with a little more than 500 total - wedding, reception, and honeymoon. And this doesn't include any professional pictures! Wow.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, my favorite picture so far is courtesy of Evan:

Adam's Weekend Project

KILL THIS TREE!!!





So he lopped off its branches...




Pulverized it with a stump grinder...




And turned it into a hole and a pile of sawdust...

Whale Watching Video Clips

Mentioned these videos before but I hadn't uploaded them yet to share. I have a fourth one - a longer one with the humpbacks with some great noises and fin whackings but it refuses to upload so I guess that one will stay with me. Boo.

Harbor Seals:


Humpback Whales:


Orcas:

Now That's Service!

I promise eventually I'll finish up my in-progress post about the rehearsal and wedding. Eventually. I've been busy. And sick.

Anyway, I sent my request off to the Outagamie courts on Wednesday for copies of our marriage certificate so I can get started on my name change process. I almost died of shock when I saw what was in the mailbox when I got home today. (Click on it for the full size image, complete with blacked out identity-theft prone information!)



Talk about a fast turn-around! Wow!

A Little Late

But still exciting...
From Monday's Paper:

Pictures

Ok, so pictures of the reception and honeymoon are up on Flickr. We won't have the professional pictures back for a couple more weeks. All are public so you shouldn't need to sign in to view them (I think.) Hopefully I got them all rotated correctly. Let me know if you find one that's still sideways.

They are in no particular order and you might find some duplication since we had 20 cameras at the reception and a digital and film camera in Alaska. Speaking of Alaska, the pictures named IMG_XXX are digital from my camera and pictures named 30465XX are from the film camera.

I left all but a very few in the sets. I think I deleted maybe 10 from the honeymoon and only 2 from the reception (for bad light, blurriness, or "what the heck is that?"ess)

So enjoy!

Honeymoon - Day 7

It was another rough night. The boat rocked and neither Adam nor I slept well. We woke up kind of late although the fact that we left Alaska’s time zone and lost an hour didn’t help. We went to a late breakfast at Blue Lagoon, dropped off our express debarkation and comment forms, got some chocolate at the shops on deck 7, and headed back to the room to catch up on some sleep lost last night. Adam proceded to get sicker as the day went on. We managed to make it to the honeymoon/anniversary cake party at 2 but after that he laid back down and didn't get up again except for bathroom trips. I spent part of the afternoon/evening on the balcony, part of it trying to get the duty-free store to refund our money for some bad Milka chocolate (which they finally did), and part of it watching movies in the room. I went and ate dinner at the buffet by myself and smuggled a bag of saltines and some coke back for Adam. We had a Pub Crawl excursion planned for Victoria but we didn't even get off the boat. I suppose I could have gone by myself but I didn't really want to. We spent the evening watching a James Bond movie (the one with Halle Berry) and feeling sorry for ourselves. Stupid sick people who come on the boat... Grrrr

Honeymoon - Day 6

Today was our third and final Alaskan port of call. We docked at Ketchikan early this morning – around 6. We had our wake up call for 5 so we could shower and eat before heading off the boat. We got onto the bus that took us to the dock for our Lighthouse, Eagles, and Totem Poles excursion. It was another water-based trip. It took us around the area showing us eagles’ nests and babies, a totem pole park, and their revered lighthouse. Overall a good tour. They at least had some freebies. It got pretty cold while out on the water though. After returning to the dock we stopped at a couple stores to pick up the last of the souvenirs we wanted and then headed to the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. It was raining a little before the show began but the weather held until the very last event. It was pretty much pouring during the log-rolling competition. Our team lost but it was still a good time. We stopped off at the last Milano store to get our Alaska CD before getting back on the boat. Adam set the metal detector off again (Tylenol was the culprit this time) and after dropping off our purchases we headed up to the buffet for lunch. Apparently every other passenger had the same idea because it was busy. We ended up sitting outside to eat. After lunch we went back to the room for a nap. We went to the early show of the cruise ship’s dance company’s Garden of the Geisha. It was an interesting performance. Lots of modern dance with some ballet and some circus-style rope twirling from the ceiling. After the show the ship’s crew came out and sang some cheesy song about how we’re part of the Norwegian Cruise Line family now. Blech. We went to Blue Lagoon for dinner again and both Adam and I got the burger and fries. We happened to be seated next to an older couple who lived in Chicago but were born and raised in Neenah. Odd… After dinner we killed some time in the room and then headed up to Spinnaker Lounge for the adult themed Second City improv show. Honestly I was kind of unimpressed. Some of it was "Who’s Line" rip-offs and most of it was highly un-adult-themed unless you consider throwing a few obscenities in adult-themed. After the show we went up to the chocolate buffet. It was amazing, lots of chocolate food items as well as ice sculptures, chocolate sculptures, and chocolate everything. Once again everyone on the ship had the same idea so we filled our plates and took them back to our cabin to enjoy.

Honeymoon - Day 5

Today is the second day at sea. We went through Glacier Bay this morning. We woke up and had breakfast at the buffet again. We headed up to the top decks as we approached the biggest of the glaciers of the day. Got some good pictures and then headed back inside. It was cold this morning – about 45. We went in between the indoors and outdoors while we cruised through multiple glaciers for most of the morning. We also had coffee to warm us up. We ate lunch at the Summer Garden. I had chicken fingers (which I suspect were coated in coconut) and a lemon-rosemary chicken. Adam had an apple bisque and a burger and fries. For dessert I had chocolate ice cream and Adam had pecan pie. After lunch we headed back to the room for a while. I offloaded the pictures from my camera – current count is 148. After a lazy afternoon of napping, watching movies on the ship’s tv, and glimpsing a few whales, we got dressed and went to dinner. We had reservations at Mambo’s – the ship’s tex-mex restaurant – and one of the no-cover-charge ones. I had a Caesar salad with cute mini tortilla chip croutons and chicken fajitas. Adam had shrimp quesadillas and bbq pork ribs. For dessert I had this chocolate pastry and ice cream thing and Adam had flan. We were entertained throughout our meal by Los Tres Hernandez, some quasi-Spanish/Mexican music (only one of the three is remotely Hispanic.) After dinner we headed back to the room to call it a night. Tomorrow morning is an early one.

Honeymoon - Day 4

Today was an early day. We actually set up a wake-up call but managed to wake up naturally about 3 minutes before it. Weird… The boat had already docked (about an hour early) when we got up. We showered, ate a quick breakfast at Blue Lagoon and headed onto shore. Second port of call – Skagway. We got there a little early having learned from yesterday’s bus situation. It was a lot easier to get off the boat this time too. We were the first people on the bus and claimed the back seat as ours. Although this was a “deluxe” motorcoach so this put us right by the bathroom. The price you pay for comfort I guess. The tour started with a tour of Skagway and took us north into Canada and the Yukon. Our guide, Trevor, was entertaining and told lots of interesting stories, some true and, I suspect, some false. We stopped numerous times along the route for pictures. We ended up at Caribou Crossing in the Yukon for lunch. We had a tasty barbeque and potato lunch. We browsed the gift shop where Adam successfully found his Cubans (shhhh!) We visited the sled dogs that are bred and trained there. We socialized with two horses that roamed the yard. After that we got back on the bus, headed a little further north, and then headed back down south. We were taken back to the White Pass Railway depot and boarded the train. About two hours through mountains, gorges, bridges, two tunnels, spectacular views, and steep grades got us back to Skagway. We had a lot more time in Skagway than we had had in Juneau and in addition to our raffles and free stuff we actually did do some shopping. We got back to the boat early and breezed through security. They did take our ulu knife though and we’ll have to pick it up at the end of the cruise. We went back to the room, changed, and went to the bar before going to dinner at Le Bistro. This was part of our honeymoon package. We got a free bottle of wine, a cake, and the cover charge was waived. I had cream of mushroom soup served in a bread bowl and chicken with moreilles mushrooms. Adam had lobster and shrimp martini, French onion soup, and salmon. All very good once again. For dessert I had an apple tart and Adam had crème brulee. The waitstaff sang to us as they presented us with the cake. Slightly embarrassing but by that time I’d had some wine so perhaps that’s why my face was red… We also showcased our lack of class by making the wine glasses hum to check if they were real crystal. After dinner we sat in the lounge for a little while listening to the jazz pianist and waiting for the boat to leave the port. We headed back to the room and went to bed.

Honeymoon - Day 3

We ate breakfast at the buffet again this morning. Seems to be the same choices each day. We spent some time out on the deck by the swimming pool. In coats, under blankets, and cuddled together of course. It’s a chilly one! We spent some time on the other side of the boat as well and ordered margaritas at 11:30am. They came in plastic souvenir cups. We had a light lunch of mostly bread to make sure we weren’t tipsy for our first shore excursion. Today was our first time off the ship since boarding in Seattle. Juneau was our first port of call. We arrived around 1 but had to wait for another NCL boat to leave the dock before we could actually get on dry land. It was a little congested getting off the boat but once through the crowd of people who didn’t know what they were doing it was ok. We got on the bus for our Mendenhall Glacier tour. Cruises and these tours are not made for tall/wide people. The bus is a normal Greyhound/Coach kind of bus and when Adam and I sat in a seat together we were totally squished. Of course they book these tours to the max so we couldn’t have individual seats. We solved this problem by getting back to the bus after the glacier really early so we could claim the back seat (technically 3 seats so it made for more room and knee room for Adam.) Anyway, after a mini town tour from Lowell, our bus guide, we stopped at Mendenhall Glacier. Took lots of pictures, visited the museum and visitor’s center, and watched some salmon spawning. It was a little rainy and mighty cold. But not unbearable. Speaking of bears, some people saw some over by the creek the salmon were in but we didn’t have the pleasure while we were there. After getting back on the bus we drove to the docks and got on a catamaran boat to go whale and wildlife watching. The boat was much more roomy and comfortable. We got out into the open water and managed to hit the wildlife watching jackpot. We saw a pod of orcas, at least 8 humpback whales, and a group of harbor seals sunning themselves on a buoy. I got videos and pictures of them all. It was a good time. The naturalist aboard was very interesting and deseminated all kinds of good information. We arrived back to the pier a little early and to kill time before the buses returned we watched the Alaska ferry dock in front of us. Back on the bus we rode to the center of town, did some power shopping (well, not really shopping… we had raffle entries to drop off and free stuff to redeem) we walked back to the ship. Unfortunately the ship was much further away than we thought and it began to rain again but we eventually got back and got dried off. We didn’t have to walk the jogging track tonight, that’s for sure. We ate dinner at the buffet since I had a craving for mashed potatoes. We discovered that the buffet doesn’t have mashed potatoes… grrrr. We called it a night soon after we ate.

Honeymoon - Day 2

We didn’t set any alarms for this morning since we didn’t really have anything we had to do because it’s a day at sea. We woke up around 7:30. After showering we went to breakfast at the buffet. It was decent. Many choices and the only lines seemed to be for custom cooked omelets. After breakfast we stopped back at the room to ditch our jackets and pick up sunglasses. It had rained during the night and was kind of cloudy when we woke up but by 9:30 or so the sun had appeared and things were looking good. We spent some time next to the pool on Deck 12. We headed to the Crystal Atrium for the 11:30 Alaska Brand Seminar where we got lots of discount coupons and a coupon for a free charm and tanzanite item in Skagway. We ate lunch at the casual Blue Lagoon Café. I had the wonton soup, a hamburger and fries. Adam had fish and chips. Both very good again. We went up to the buffet for dessert and then returned to the room for a nap. After a relaxing afternoon of pretty much doing nothing we got dressed up in our good clothes and headed to the atrium for “Dress up or not” photos. We stopped back in the room to change into something more comfortable and then went to the theatre for the Second City comedy group. They were pretty good with lots of relevant, ship-related sketches. After the show we went to Indigo for dinner. I had a watermelon/fried feta salad and orzo. Adam had more shrimp cocktail and the seafood extravaganza which included lobster, mussels, and all kind of other smelly food. For dessert I had a chocolate mousse thing and Adam had strawberry sorbet. Pretty good again. Not as good as last night, but this one was free. Once again, we bumped into the couple from the hotel and shuttle as they were leaving and we were ordering so we said hi. Strange… We returned to our room right after sunset (around 9pm!) and hung out for a bit. We had a towel animal on our bed to greet us.

Honeymoon - Day 1

We woke up with the alarm this morning. I had been up a few hours earlier and managed to be able to take my pill at the correct time. This will probably not continue since I really doubt I’ll be motivated enough to wake up at 5am (well 4am when we get to Alaska) every morning. We showered and headed downstairs for breakfast. It was a pretty good spread. Pastries, even eggs. After breakfast we went back up to our room and took a nap until about 11. Then we headed back to the lobby to check out and wait for the shuttle to the pier. We met a nice older couple who also were to sail on the Pearl. When the shuttle arrived we squeezed into the van and were informed two more people had to get on still. We all managed to fit along with all our luggage.

A long and rainy trip to the pier took us through gray, run-down, industrial areas of Seattle. We got to the dock a little after 1pm. We dropped off our checked bags, stood in a few lines to have our tickets and passports checked, get our room cards and pictures taken, and finally get onboard the ship. Start to finish was probably 45 minutes. Very organized process that went smoothly considering how many people there were to load onto the ship.

We checked out our room and after we discovered we weren’t even supposed to be there yet we went up to the buffet for some lunch. It was kind of intimidating and we barely made a dent in the food choices. We wandered the ship a little until the announcement for the lifeboat drill came over the PA system. We happened to run into two of the couples we had ridden to the dock with in our wanderings. And they say it’s a big boat… The couple from the hotel actually decided to send the champagne from their room to us since they don’t drink and they knew it was our honeymoon. We went back downstairs to our room to get our life jackets and then went to our assigned muster station. The drill itself was relatively painless. When we returned to the room Adam’s bag had been delivered but mine wasn’t there yet. We wandered the ship some more and watched the boat leave the pier from the top deck in front. Then we walked around to the back. We came back to the room so Adam could call his parents and drop off his camera. My suitcase arrived while we were there and I unpacked while Adam enjoyed our balcony. We made arrangements to eat at Cagney’s Steakhouse, one of the specialty restaurants onboard (and the one with the most expensive cover charge.) We changed to meet the dress code and headed up. It was a fabulous meal. I had chicken and mashed potatoes and Adam had a steak with onions. I also had an absolutely to die for chocolate dessert – Sinful Chocolate Obsession. Adam had Bananas Foster. All in all a wonderful experience. We stopped for a drink at the martini bar and enjoyed some jazz music while we were there. We also ran into a couple from the shuttle ride for a second time! We went back to the room to change and get jackets and then walked a lap on Deck 7 and another on Deck 12. We called it a night after that.

Not so Happy Feet

Happy Feet was delivered to our door last week (yay for Blockbuster Total Access!) We watched it on Sunday morning before doing our shopping etc.

Within the first 2 minutes I looked over at Adam and said, “is it bad that I already want to barf?” I mean a penguin was busting a move to Prince…come on now…

This film has its good elements. It has its bad elements.

On the good side: Penguins are cute. There were a few respectably funny jokes. The short, Mexican penguins? Hilarious.

On the bad side: Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. Bad Moulin Rouge rip-off. Why would a penguin have man boobs? Thinly veiled social commentary disguised as a kids movie much? A tap-dancing penguin? Really? I found the whole premise completely stupid. I found the 1950’s musical style of randomly breaking into song distracting. And the elephant seals? Totally creepy.

Ok, so I suppose it’s obvious that this won’t make it onto my favorite movies list. It was such a stupid movie that I can’t even bear to write any more about it.

T Minus, well, I guess it's 2 now...

So far I’ve managed to stay on schedule with all the things I’ve needed to get done. That’s pretty amazing considering I’m a master procrastinator.

Our marriage license is safely waiting with all our other rehearsal stuff. It was a piece of cake, picking it up. It took about 30 seconds. The whole licensing procedure was pretty painless actually. That’s kind of nice. Now I get to start filling out the name change paperwork. Woo…

I made the final beauty appointment needed (for nails) yesterday afternoon. At least I think I made a nail appointment. Why is it that every nail salon is owned and operated by someone of Asian persuasion with barely a grasp of the English language? For all I know I might have made three appointments for Chinese water torture, but I hope not… I also placed the order for lunch on Friday at Erbert & Gerbert’s. Once again, not the most articulate and efficient salesperson handled this so I’m hoping she got the order right and it will be ready when I come to pick it up.

Monday night was pretty boring. I don’t even really remember what I did. I do recall that I started packing and I’ve gotten as far as I can go until I do the final loads of laundry tonight or tomorrow morning. It should be interesting trying to get all the stuff I flung in the general direction of the suitcases actually into the suitcases.

Last night I had some errands to run before I headed home (as previously mentioned) and when I got home I cleaned hamster cages, did dishes, and then crashed. At like 8. Seriously. But I figure I won’t be getting the greatest sleep for the next few days so I’m ok with that.

Today is my last day at work for the week. I’ll be leaving at 3 and heading up to Kaukauna to pick up the dresses. They’ll be dropped off at Adam’s parents’ house for Friday. That’s really the only thing I have to get done today. Adam’s picking up Catherine (the sister) sometime today and we plan to go to the drive-in tonight assuming the weather cooperates. I’m hoping Adam cleans the guinea pig cages at some point. I might do laundry. But that’s about it.

Thursday will be busy, but hopefully not crazy-like. I’ve tried to space appointments out so that if we start running behind it’s not a huge deal. And Friday should be fine. The weather looks good

and I’m confident that everyone will do what they’re supposed to and things will work out fine. And if not, what can you do? Really, at this point I’m looking forward to the rehearsal dinner tomorrow night, the reception on Friday, and finally being able to relax by Sunday night. :)

T-5

Reader crisis resolved. Even though every time I called either my uncle or aunt I got voice mail the first time Adam dials my uncle’s number my uncle answers it. Grrrr. Fortunately he’s fine with taking over the first scripture reading although he’s not sure if they’ll arrive in time for the rehearsal. It should be fine either way.

Headcount is final so, please, no more RSVPs from irresponsible, rude, unable to plan ahead people. You can’t come. Place cards are done, numbered, and alphabetized. Itineraries are done, copies of passports and flight plans are made. Pet care instructions for Katie and Chris are done.

I will pick up our marriage license at lunch today. I will go to the bank to get a wad of cash for the honeymoon. Hmm. Perhaps I shouldn’t announce that. It might make me a target for the throngs of people who read this blog.

Anyway, I haven’t started packing yet. Well, the suitcases are out and ready against the wall in the bedroom and I did throw a bottle of shampoo in it. I don’t think that counts. I’ve got one or two more rounds with the washer before we leave so I’m going to probably pack two or three times.

Speaking of the washer, I did some laundry on Saturday afternoon and when I went to start the dryer the knob thing to start it fell off in my hand. Luckily it still started but I was left with a semi-broken dryer. I kind of forgot about it until yesterday when I did the other half of the laundry. Luckily Adam was still home when I remembered it so he could come down and look at it. He took apart the top panel and discovered a piece of plastic had broken off. He used some plastic glue or something from his modeling stuff and it looks like that might work. Otherwise we’d be calling Lowe’s and telling them to fix it.

We’re also having some trouble with our programmable thermostat. It keeps turning itself off. I’ve never had anything to do with it so this one is definitely not my fault, but it’s still annoying.

Also annoying are the multitudes of crab apples that fall on our driveway every day. Adam rakes/shovels/brooms them off to the side every evening but there always seem to be more the next morning. And you run them over, squish them, step in them. It smells like rotting apple juice. He informed me last night that the tree will be coming down.

Home-ownership is never dull I guess.

But the weekend was pretty dull considering what’s going on this week. Adam had 3-on-3 all day Saturday. I opted not to go to church with him but I did join him and the rest of the group for dinner at (of all places) Good Company afterwards. We sat back in the French Quarter which is where our rehearsal dinner will be on Thursday. We were on one end of the room with two bachelorette parties occupying the rest of the room. I was the one who pointed out the bride-to-be’s veil adorned with plastic penises (peni?), which is pretty traditional these days, but apparently shocked some of the other people in our group. One of the guys at our table heckled the nearest partiers. It was kind of creepy in a dirty old man kind of way and I’m certainly glad I wasn’t on the other side of it all. Ick. Anyway, by my observations there were no fewer than 4 different bachelorette parties going on while we were there. Must be wedding season.

Sunday was a lazy day. We did some quick shopping in the morning (needed color ink for the printer for the gift card box – dude that’s expensive!) before Adam left to go help with clean-up at the church. I did a little clearance rack shopping at Kohl’s and Shopko and managed to pick up some shirts. After returning home I watched some Sex in the City to kill time before Adam got back home. We just kind of hung out all afternoon. Adam grilled out some steaks for dinner and I actually ate (a very well done, non-mooing) one. He joked that he wanted to take a picture to prove I ate steak but he didn’t. He got pay-per-view wrestling so I spent the evening watching Finding Nemo on the Disney Channel. That’s about it.

The fun starts on Wednesday.

A Discovery

I was just going through the closet o' wedding crap to get it organized for the chaos that is next week Thursday and Friday and I noticed our bears. They were still naked in their "take me home" boxes. So I got them dressed. Keep an eye out for these cuties at the reception:

T-6

One of the results of Thursday's meeting with the reception hall was that I had to go find a box for cards at the reception since the ones they had were rejects from previous weddings which the guy assured me were all hideous. So this morning I made it my goal to find an un-hideous version, for cheap. I started at Party America. They are still in the process of re-doing their store so things are all over the place and kind of crazy. I saw a lot of wedding stuff, but no boxes. I then headed to Walmart. Once again lots of wedding stuff, no boxes. I was about to go to Hobby Lobby when I remembered there's a WEDDING SUPPLIES STORE on Wisconsin Avenue. Perhaps I should go to the WEDDING SUPPLIES STORE for the WEDDING SUPPLIES I'm looking for.

Duh.

I walked in, was promptly greeted by a nice employee who pointed me in the direction of their card box section(!) I was in and out in about 2 minutes and spent $15. *sigh* Do I always make things harder than they need to be or is that a recent development?

Anyway, final haircut was done last night. I threatened the stylist with death if she screwed up which she found hilarious for some reason. Luckily for her she took off the teensiest bit and it looks fine.

I dug out our suitcases last night to start packing and noticed that Adam's is significantly larger than mine is. I suppose this could be ok since his clothes are significantly larger than mine are but I think I might have to put some stuff in his anyway. Aren't you supposed to pack half and half anyway in case one bag is lost?

As the final hours approach we have been thrown another curveball. Adam's uncle, Craig, lives in Florida and was planning on flying up and was going to read one of the bible passages for us since he's also Adam's godfather. This week he managed to mess his knee up and no longer feels comfortable making the trip. Perfectly understandable. But this leaves us one reader short. Last night I called my uncle John (who happens to be a pastor so he's a pro) and left him a message asking him if he'd like to take over the job. I'm hoping to hear back from him today but my dad tells me he's notoriously hard to get a hold of so I might have to track him down via my aunt, Kris. If he declines (or never responds) I guess we'll have to take a look at the list and see who else we can recruit. Kind of reminds me of Katie's wedding where Adam volunteered my services at the last minute when one of their readers went MIA. Never a dull moment. And Adam's mom had just printed all the programs...

I'll have to re-do the seating a little to adjust for this change but I hadn't put table numbers on the cards yet so it's not a big deal. That's on my list for tomorrow.

Weather Watch 2007 Continued

Bwahahahahaha

T-7

So the meeting for the reception hall last night wasn’t so horrible. The guy seems nice enough and even though apparently the previous person left no information about our choices I think we worked it all out. We had to go over color schemes and table set-ups again (that would be the third time for this now.) We confirmed our totally awesome buffet choices and verified that none of the pricing had changed. In an unexpected good news moment he informed us that he wouldn’t charge us the $2 surcharge for being under 75 people since we were so close (we’re at 71.) So that’s nice. We talked about room set-up and confirmed that the divider/foyer wall will be in place so we can make a dramatic entrance. All of our questions were answered and fortunately the answers didn’t create much extra work for me.

In another unexpected good news moment Adam’s mom told us she was going to pay for the champagne toast even though originally she hadn’t even wanted there to be one. So that was nice too. Our part of the estimated bill will be paid next Thursday when we stop by to decorate the hall with our floating candles, favors, and various other items. I was relieved to hear that they have nothing scheduled for the day before our wedding because that leaves us time to make sure everything is done the way we want. This makes next Thursday a pretty busy day for me but it should all work out.

After returning home and dumping a garbage can full of crab apples from the driveway in the dumpsters back at our old apartment building (shhh, don’t tell anyone!) I sat myself down in front of the computer and took care of our cruise registration and finished up the itineraries that will be given to the parental units at the rehearsal dinner. The printer was unnecessarily crabby (a color cartridge error even though I was printing in black and white) and the NCL website keeps losing my account information, but eventually everything got done. Then I could spend some quality time with a couple cuddly furry guys (ok, so three if you include Adam, but he was in the living room watching wrestling.)

Adam got a hold of the DJ this morning to confirm some stuff that was dependent on the results of the meeting last night. I’ll be calling La Sure’s about the cake this afternoon. My last pre-wedding haircut is tonight. The weekend should be pretty low-key. Adam has 3-on-3 tonight and all day tomorrow. I’ll be joining him after the tournament for 4:30 mass and then dinner afterwards. Sunday is clean-up and I’m staying away from that. Just a few things on my to-do list for this weekend and the beginning of next week. Then I should be set to shift into super high gear on Wednesday and Thursday.

Woo

T-8

Final dress fittings are done and over with. The easing of the neckline on my dress worked fine and it fits as good as it will. Catherine’s dress also fit quite well (whew!) with just a minor stitch or two in the back to prevent it from poking out weird. Off to be pressed and I’ll pick them up next Wednesday.

The shoe issue is also taken care of. They look pretty good with the dress (whew again!)



I was worried they’d be too shiny but they go well with the beads on the edges of the tiers and straps.

An unforeseen issue has come up though. Ok, perhaps not unforeseen, but something I hadn’t thought about. Catherine W. questioned my "no nylons" stance since their dresses are just below the knee and also asked about toes. Since my feet are covered I hadn’t given too much thought to legs and toes. My sister doesn’t want to wear nylons and my concern with them is that the dresses are so sheer and light that you’ll probably be able to see where the hose cut off at your waist. I don’t know. Catherine W. is right when she says they make you look more polished and neither of them have tan legs so we might enter ghostly pale territory in pictures. I have a little time to think about my options still I suppose. I just want them to be comfortable both temperature-wise and appearance-wise.

In any case, the one meeting I’m worried about is tonight – the reception hall. They’ve had a lot of changes in management and we’ve dealt with two other people before this new guy. I hope everyone has communicated amongst themselves and all our previous negotiations and request have been carried through the change process. We’ve got a list of questions to get answered and I’m hoping it all works out splendidly.

I’ll probably regret saying this, but everything has worked out pretty well so far (knock on the hugest piece of wood on earth…) There was a minor flower thing (purple hyacinths were unavailable) but that was no biggie since they were just accent flowers that were easily replaced with delphinium. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how tonight goes so we know if I can relax yet.

Current (and hopefully final) headcount is at 75, including 4 babies. So we didn’t really make our minimum but since it costs more to pay for 71 than it would for 75 (there’s a $2 surcharge per plate if under the minimum) I’m hoping they’ll let us fudge it a little.

We got so close… a lot closer than I had expected considering the pathetic response rate we were at back when the RSVP were due. I was just amazed by the number of people who didn’t get the cards back to us on time (or at all.) I can’t attribute them all to flat out rudeness. Some of these people got a pass since I knew they were busy or had other things on their minds. But some I just can’t understand. How hard is it to put a check mark on a line and seal an envelope? You didn’t even need a stamp. And the post office comes to your house. Grrr. Know how to not forget about it or lose it (as was the excuse for the majority of these late responders)? Do it right away. Duh. Ok enough about that. I know it’s like beating a dead horse. There are two kinds of people in the world - polite ones and rude ones.

Weather Watch 2007

So far, so good

T-9

We successfully applied for our marriage license yesterday afternoon. It’s a pretty painless process. We spent more time sitting on a bench waiting than we did inside the office filing paperwork. There was a line - must be a popular time to get hitched. In any case, I’ll be stopping by on Monday during lunch to pick it up since there’s a 5-day waiting period.

We also had our final meeting with the photographer last night. We planned out posed pictures, set a loose time-table and talked about what we wanted to have documented and what we didn’t care about. Then he took us into the back room where they have the huge printers and showed Adam some pictures he took of a brand new private plane built out at the airport across from Adam’s work.

Other than that the evening was pretty dull. We stopped home quickly between the court house and the photographer to check mail and drop my car off. We ate a fast-paced dinner at Applebee’s. We did some shopping to prepare for being gone for a week+ and some prep work for this weekend’s 3-on-3 at the church. That’s about it.

Failure

I tried. I really did. But I just couldn’t do it.

Blood Diamond had been sitting on the end table by the couch since last week and I was determined to watch it. I popped it in the DVD player last night after Adam went to his 3-on-3 meeting. From 00:00:01 it was violence, warfare, and Leo with a bad accent. I made it through about 45 minutes before I threw in the towel. And this movie is almost 2 ½ hours long.

I admit defeat. I really didn’t care if they recovered the big diamond and righted all wrongs. I was just tired of people randomly driving up in trucks and taking out whole villages. I know this is the reality for too much of the world but I guess I’m one of those people who prefer to escape into a better reality by watching movies.

There are probably a few others still on the list that might have this same fate but I’m honestly trying to sit through them all. Perhaps this is the Cinderella Man for this year…

Still on the list to watch:
Children of Men
Curse of the Golden Flower
Dreamgirls
The Good German
Happy Feet
The Last King of Scotland
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Queen
Venus
Volver

I actually started Venus a while back but had to return it before I could watch it all. That was during the house-buying/cleaning/moving time period.

It's a Zoo out there...

This past weekend was full of ignoring the Big Event approaching and having fun in other ways.

Adam had a fiscal year-end get together for his team at work on Friday evening. It was at Willie Beamon’s so I was fine going along. We had some drinks and some food. I tried to be adventurous and ordered a Caesar chicken wrap instead of my usual chicken tenders (which are really good there!) Somehow red onions ended up in the wrap and after double checking that the menu had said nothing about onions, I complained (ok, so I had Adam complain for me) and they made me another one. Which I took home and ate yesterday.

The highlight of the evening was when one of Adam’s coworkers showed up and attempted the mad cow burger challenge: a massive burger with pounds of toppings, a huge bun, and a pile of fries. Eat it in 30 minutes and it’s free. He made it through the burger in impressive time but couldn’t do the fries. It was a good time for everyone though, egging him on and cracking jokes about his toilet.

Saturday morning we woke up too early. We pondered what to do with our day and decided to call my Dad et al and see if they wanted to go to the Milwaukee Zoo with us. We called them a little before 8 and apparently woke them all up. Whoops. Catherine agreed to join us on our mini-vacation so after getting dressed and turning around to get the camera we forgot to bring with us we headed to Sheboygan Falls and picked her up. A stop at Arby’s in Port Washington got Adam and me a little lunch and some time to look through all of Catherine’s Guatemala pictures.

We made it to the Zoo a little before 1 and although the line to get into the parking lot seemed long, there were actually plenty of spots open relatively close to the entrance. I wanted to beeline to the Shark and Sting Ray Reef since that’s really the reason we went down in the first place. It happened to be all the way across the Zoo from where we parked. We finally made our way there and paid the $2 to get in. I couldn’t reach the shark. I don’t know how any kids could either since I’m hoping my arms aren’t disproportionately short. Adam had luck of course with his big monkey arms. (Heh, he hates it when I call them that.) Anywho, we headed to the Sting Rays and I didn’t even attempt to try and pet them. I didn’t want to fall into the water. I did get some video of Adam and the pack swimming by.



After washing off our hands we headed back out to the rest of the zoo. Nothing particularly spectacular to report really. They did have two koalas that were cutely asleep when we visited them.



We skipped the big cats since we were getting close on time and wanted to stop by Sprecher’s on the way back. Here are some highlights:


See all the pictures here.

As previously mentioned, we made a quick stop at Sprecher’s Brewery on the way back home. We then headed back to Sheboygan Falls in off-and-on showers. We stayed for dinner and then headed back home.

Sunday we woke up too early again and Adam spent most of his day getting supplies for and re-screening the windows in our bedroom. I did all kinds of random stuff and didn’t get around to doing anything wedding-related. Yay! This means my wedding to-do list is exactly the same length today as it was on Friday. *sigh* I plan to get four or five things checked off tonight hopefully. Luckily time is running out so I can’t procrastinate for much longer.

This week is full of final meetings, confirmations, and our last round of painful dispensations of money. Tomorrow we’ll be sneaking out of work early and heading to the court house to get our marriage license. Then we have our last meeting with the photographer where we’ll pay off his balance (ouch) and go through shot lists and schedules. Wednesday is Catherine’s dress fitting and my final fitting. Hopefully all goes well there since there’s not a lot of time for error. Thursday is our meeting with the reception hall. We’re meeting with their new guy, who neither of us has met, and he seems to be kind of a dick. Hopefully my first (phone) impressions are mistaken since I don’t really want to have to put up with surprises or conflicts this late into the game. On Friday I’ll be calling everyone else, La Sure’s and the DJ, to finalize schedules and work out any outstanding questions and details. I figure this leaves me with next weekend, Monday, and Tuesday to have millions of worst case scenarios run through my head. I already had one dream on Saturday in which all of our guests (including the wedding party) came down with the stomach flu and no one came to the ceremony or reception. Although I blame this more on a Travel Channel show I watched about bad cruises than wedding jitters…

Anyway, everything is under control. So much so that I find myself standing in the guest room, staring at the closet full of wedding stuff, wondering if I’ve forgotten to do something. My theknot.com checklist has 24 things on it and most of them are being taken care of this week. If I’ve missed something I don’t know what it is. I think I’m just a little crazy.