Double digits!

Only three months to go!  It seems like this was the magic number to really start wrapping up the wedding planning.  It’s really not so much planning any more as executing ideas.  Eric and I had planned on going camping the other weekend, but the weather didn’t feel like cooperating so we ended up staying inside and finishing a few projects.

Where we should have been…

We got most of the invitations addressed, I got all of the bunting cut out and I made the cake toppers and flower girl wands.  We also got most of the ceremony and reception songs picked out.  Thank God for bad weather because we’re not going to want to stay inside when it gets nice out!

We still have to finalize the guys’ outfits and the ceremony wording.  Fortunately, I think those are the biggest things right now.  I took a look at my to-do list and it’s still pretty large, but it’s composed mostly of tasks like “get boarding reservations for the dog”, and “finalize wedding day timeline”.  It’s a good thing, too, because my brain is no longer capable of making big wedding decisions.  I found it’s limit a while ago.

In a perfect world, we will get everything done by the beginning of July so the only thing we’ll have to do that month is put out any fires that pop up, which they WON’T (fingers crossed).   We’ll get the invitations out at the end of this month, and hopefully it’s smooth sailing from there.  Don’t laugh.  It could happen…

 

Home sweet home, kind of

We finally found a place to live!  Yay!  Once we get married, we will start searching for a house of our own, but until that happens, we found a little “in the meantime” place to lay our heads.  The reason we’re so excited about it is because it’s been surprisingly hard to find a rental.  Every time we find something we would like, it gets snatched up before we can even apply for it.  The main reason is, surprisingly, the oilfield boom has reached Billings (6 hours from Williston, ND).  In my mind, that’s a little ridiculous.  I don’t know if everyone has seen the news articles, but you can read about it here.  Yes, it’s wonderful that there is so much work up there, but there is no where to live in that town.  It’s so bad that apparently a 6 hour commute (one way) from Billings is now considered reasonable.  And that’s great for the landlords, but guess what?  Most people don’t make $2K-$4K a week like they do working on the oil rigs.  Yet somehow the housing costs keep creeping up, despite the fact that the average Montana household only brings in about $40K per year, and 14.5% of Montanans are at or below the poverty line.  In Williston, single wide mobile home rentals are going for $3500/month.  Per month!  And you’re considered extremely fortunate to be able to find one of these places.  People consider themselves lucky to even be able to live in a “man-camp”.

Man-camp in Williston, ND

Fortunately, it’s not that quite bad in Billings, but it’s slowly getting there.  That’s scary for people like Eric and I who are wanting to find a place of our own. 

The other problem we’re facing is the fact that most Billings landlords are not pet-friendly.  I’ve never run into a problem finding a place that wasn’t ok with my dog in any other town I’ve lived in.  It was a bit of a shock when I moved here and found out that my options were very limited. 

How could you not love this face?!?

So, that’s why we’re so excited about finally finding a place that suits our needs.  It’s just a little 2 bedroom apartment, but it’s dog friendly, reasonably priced and close to work.  And we’re excited that it’s a month-to-month lease so we can start the house search right away after we get married.  Eric will be moving in next month, and I will join him after our wedding in August.  Now we can breathe a little easier knowing we checked a big thing off our to-do list.

 

 

Our 15 minutes

We had our announcement put in my hometown paper, the Billings Gazette, on Easter Sunday.  Check it out by clicking *here*.  It’s getting real (but somehow time is still going very, very slowly).  Can’t wait until August 4th!

 

Here comes Peter Cottontail?

I can’t believe it’s almost Easter!  I hope everyone’s spring has been as warm as ours!  It’s so refreshing and unnerving at the same time to be outside without a coat in March.  That just doesn’t happen here.  This weekend we took the dogs for a few walks by the river and they all came back with ticks which, again, doesn’t happen in March.  I’ve never had to put tick meds on the dogs before May.  Despite the ticks, they were full of doggie joy since they were able to run around the trail and go swimming in the river. 

(The picture is from last summer, but you get the idea – Happy dogs.)

The other fun thing that happened this weekend was that we bought Eric’s wedding band!  He loves wearing it so much he hates taking it off.  I suggested a “man-gagement” ring, but I don’t think that idea sat well with him.  I thought it was a good idea…  It’s a rising trend, according to all the ring manufacturers who want to sell more rings.  Gotta keep up with the times, Eric! 🙂  

Detail work has started with the wedding.  We took a couple trips to Bozeman in the last few weeks to figure out details like bouquets and table placement – really exciting things.  I’m wrestling with some decisions about accessories for my dress (long veil, short veil, two veils?  Too many options!) and Eric is figuring out his tux.  We’re about to wrap up our pre-marital classes at church, and we need to get together with our officiant soon to figure out the ceremony details.  Just checking off the list!

 

 

A little of this, a little of that…

It’s Leap Year!  Leap Day?  Leap Year Day?!?  I don’t know.  Either way, we’re making up for lost time.  I hope everyone has spectacular plans for their extra day.   For me?  Work and spinning class.  So no, my plans don’t wow, either.  Oh, well.

I haven’t been blogging much lately because, frankly, I don’t know what to blog about.  There have been lots of little things going on with the wedding but little things don’t really make for interesting reading; it’s more like reading through someone’s to-do list.  I really don’t know how to not bore everyone at this point.  But, I said I would update people with our wedding info on this blog, so here goes:

My dress came in the other week so I got to go in and try it on for the first time.  It was pretty big on me, which was kind of a nice feeling, but it made it hard to picture myself in a well-fitting dress.  It shouldn’t be a problem to take in, though, so that’s comforting.

Not me, but I can pretend, right?

We have met with a music group to do the ceremony music, and we’re pretty sure we’ll go with them.   That was the part that was making me worry because it seemed like everyone I called last month was booked.  Not a good feeling.

We’re close to getting all of our babysitters for the wedding.  We just need one more girl.  The other two girls we have babysitting have worked in the church nursery or with Awana for years and have plenty of experience.   If our guests decide they want to bring their children, we know they won’t have anything whatsoever to worry about when leaving their kids in the care of these girls!

Everything else that has been happening are little things (purchasing a cake serving set, figuring out music, etc…)  Not anything people are thrilled to read about 🙂  I hope everyone else has been having a great start to their 2012!

 

No-frills update

I’ve been crazy busy the last three weeks;  I’ve had to move and travel to Helena & DC for work  so there’s just been no time to post anything lately.   I’ll have to do a quick update of what’s been happening.  My dress came in the other day!  I’ll go into the dress shop Friday to try it on.  I’m a little nervous because it’s a mix of two dresses and I’ve never seen the final product on before.  The ladies at the shop said it’s gorgeous on the hanger, so I’ll have to take their word for it for now.  I’m not going to be posting pictures of it, so really this post is more informative than fun.  Sorry!

We’re also in the process of finding ceremony musicians, which is turning out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be.  It’s not time to panic yet, but I’m starting to sweat it.  Hopefully we’ll find someone good soon.

We’re only 6 months away from the wedding, so things are starting to get rolling.  We’ve received the invitations and they look fabulous! Those will get sent out in a few months.  The guys’ suits are all picked out, but we’ll have to go in and put something together for our dads.  We have an appointment with the flower lady in a few weeks, and after that I think most of the wedding planning will be in the details (figuring out the timeline, picking out songs, confirming addresses, etc…).  Super exciting, huh?   I hope August gets here quickly!

 

Take deep breaths and pray…

Wedding planning has been stressing me out lately.  The sheer magnitude of putting on a wedding hit me one day and made me panic just a little bit.  I’m not one of those women who has been dreaming of their wedding day since age 5, nor am I one of those women who enjoys being a hostess.  I have no idea how to plan a party, let alone an event as important and large as a wedding.  On top of that, I really don’t like being the center of attention.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not shy nor am I afraid to speak in front of a crowd.  I just don’t like being the “main event”, if you will.  I’m very private when it comes to my personal life.  After I acknowledged these two personality quirks, I questioned my sanity in wanting a good old-fashioned wedding.  What was I thinking?!?  What’s wrong with a Vegas wedding?  But it’s too late to consider that.  Too much money has been spent, invitations have been ordered, plane tickets have been purchased.  I’m over-the-moon excited to marry my best friend and I didn’t want to put a damper on our special day (or the days leading up to it) by having a bad attitude about it.  So instead of fretting so much, I decided to talk to God about it:

Phil 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

I know this Bible verse by heart, but getting it into my thick head is usually the problem.  Immediately, God gave me peace.  He reminded me that first of all, He is in charge.  Whew, good thing because my life would be a mess without Him!  Then He reminded me that the people who will be coming to our wedding are friends and family.  Each one of them is special to us in some way.  It’s not like we’ll be the center of attention in front of a bunch of strangers.  They’re all loved ones who care for us and are there to support us.  Same goes for my hostess anxiety: our guests are loved ones.  They are there to celebrate with us, not to critique and complain about every little detail of the wedding.  It’s going to be o.k. because at the end of it all, we’ll be married!  I’m so thankful that God is in control of it all.  I’m not going to lie:  I’m still much more excited about just being married to Eric than for the wedding day itself, but I think that’s o.k..  Especially now that I have been given a better perspective on our wedding day… We’re just so blessed to have so many people who want to celebrate with us!

 

Honeymoon dreams

Honeymoon: booked.  Mostly.  We’ll be flying into Vancouver, BC a couple days after our wedding!

Vancouver

We’ll be staying there for a few days, and then we’ll move on to Galiano Island in the Gulf Islands.

View of the mainland

Cormorants

We’re looking forward to a relaxing vacation.  The island isn’t very populated, so we’ll have some privacy. We’ll probably rent some bikes and take some rides around Galiano.  We might island hop a bit, too.  We will definitely take a day to go to Victoria to visit the gardens, take high tea, and (the thing I’m most excited about) whale watching!

Victoria

Whale watching off Vancouver Island

We’re both soooooo excited!  Can’t wait to go!

 

 

We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone’s year has started off well.

I believe January is the Drill Instructor of months.   “Get off your lazy butt and get back into the gym!”  “You’re not on vacation anymore!  Get to work!”  “You need a routine!  Start making commitments!”  I’m much more inclined to enjoy the happy-go-lucky attitude of December.  “Sure, eat that whole plate of fudge.  It’s the holidays!”   “Stop worrying about being productive.  I won’t judge you.  It’s the holidays!”  As I write those words, I realize that maybe December is the Enabler of months.  Hmm.   I guess January does have a reason for being so domineering, after all.

Our New Years Eve was a good time.  We got to go out dancing with some good friends of ours, Erika and Bill, as well as Erika’s parents, Cathy and Jerry.

Precious

Erika and family

Cute hats, boys

Trying to be classy

There were a couple different bands we listened to.  The first one was Midlife Chryslers, which is a band made up entirely of local doctors.  They’re pretty fun to dance to since they play all classic rock and Motown (they even had a horn section!).  The other one was Bucky Beaver and the Ground Grippers, who cover mostly country and some top 40’s.   I’m not a girl who enjoys what the young ‘uns dance to these days.  None of that silly hip hop for me.  A good two-step or swing will put a smile on my face :).   We finally rang in the New Year with a glass of champagne and a kiss, followed directly by a high-five and an excited “We’re getting married this year!”  There’s a small chance we high-five too often, but I think this was a justifiable celebration.

Sneak-attack kiss

As far as wedding planning goes, we have finally asked someone to officiate our wedding.  We’ve been talking about it for months, but just haven’t gotten around to it.  I do believe that this is integral to the wedding ceremony (right below having a fiance to marry).  I’m pretty sure I can find ample evidence to support my theory.   It’s probably a good thing we took care of it.

Wayne is a pastor at our church and one of Eric’s good friends.  I won’t put his picture up because I think I would embarrass him.  But we’re very excited to have him officiate our wedding.

The other things we’re trying to take care of this month are to figure out the bar situation (a top priority, obviously ;)), picking out invitations, getting our music figured out, and picking out Eric’s ring.  He’s got a good idea about what he wants, but hasn’t selected a specific one yet.  We’re also doing some research on our honeymoon, but I’ll have a separate post about that once we’ve booked it.  Other than that, wedding planning is pretty slow.  However, as my uncle pointed out, we have seven months to go and come March, things are going to get hectic.  So, I’m going to enjoy my sanity while it’s still with me.

 

Merry Chrismahanukwanzakah!

Sorry everyone, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.  Turns out December is kind of a busy month.  There isn’t much to report about the wedding (besides the fact that it’s still not here yet!)  I’m getting impatient!  Anyway, we’ve selected the bridesmaid dresses (thanks for modeling, Erika!) and I think they’re pretty cute.  I’d wear one 🙂

Mom and I went to see Sheryl (our day-of coordinator’s aunt) at the party store and some help with figuring out the reception decor (and by some help, I mean Sheryl is the next best thing to Martha Stewart and if it weren’t for her we probably would have called it good with table cloths and that’s it).  Grandma is in town this weekend, so she, mom and I went to the quilting store to pick out fabric for the guest book quilt.  Mom and I will be going back soon to pick out the fabric for the bunting, also.  I was excited to find that the store actually carried replica Civil War era fabrics, which are perfect for our vintage theme (and very cute).  I’m very blessed to have people in my life who have the skills and are willing to help out with things like that.

So that’s what’s been happening over the last month or so.  Christmas had a way of sneaking up on me this year, but that’s ok.   I love this season and everything it means.  Unfortunately, there’s no snow to go cross country skiing yet, but what are ya gonna do?  Eric and I went to see ZooLights (a drive through light display at Zoo Montana) with my brother and sister in law the other day, which was a fun throw-back to our childhood.  We also grabbed some yummy coffee and went and looked at lights around town this week, which was a lot of fun.  Sadly for me, Eric is leaving bright and early tomorrow to go home for Christmas, but I’m excited for him.  It’s been a year and a half since he’s seen his family, so it’s about time 🙂  I guess I can handle being away from him for a week or so.  But I’m excited for him to get back!

In case I don’t get around to writing again this month, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year!

Have a blessed Christmas season!