Brief Update

We are still enjoying our last two days of honeymoon-ing in San Francisco, but ModPhoto has updated their blog with some pictures from our wedding!

Eric and Vanessa's Viking Wedding

On the First Day of Married Life...

I woke up. Then I packed up an immense amount of "stuff" from the wedding ceremony, helped pack three cars, and drove back down the mountain with my Husband.

Yesterday was a beautiful, hectic, suprising day that I shared with people that I love and respect. It could not have been better.

Updates and pictures when we return from our honeymoon in San Francisco.

Crunch Time

It feels like there is a LOT left to do, and only 3 days to do it in. Well,  2 days, if you discount driving time.

In reality, there is a very limited number of projects left to complete, and most of those are in the final stages. Thanks to all the hands we have had helping out for the past couple of weeks.

Next post will either be via BlackBerry, a quick "OMG!" update; or after the Big Day. Wedded bliss, here we come!

Showerlette Review

The showerlette (part shower, part bachelorette) on Saturday was great. Very low-key and laid back, which is pretty much what I was hoping for.

Jen made some fantastic food (fresh gaspacho, a simple salad with vinagrette, 2 kinds of stuffed mushrooms) as well as a cheese + cracker plate and dips with dippers; and mimosas (aaand, pretty much whatever I wanted to drink).

She also decorated (she made the door deco in my last post), and Karen went all-out (as expected/suspected) and had simple framed photos of EJ + myself throughout the house.
We played a few games (the word search became amazingly competitive!) And spent a lot of time socializing.

fMIL made a gorgeously simple cake (carrot cake, one of my faves); Karen + Jen put together a great "well wishes" type of book from all the attendees; and later on Sam and Wolfe spent some time with us before they all left.

At the end (we were all kinda tired), the 3 of us womenfolk watched "Never Been Kissed" (Jen hadn't seen it, and its one of a very short list of romantic comedies I enjoy).

Like I said, very laid back and relaxing sort of day. Just what I wanted!

Another (mini) Milestone

Today when I arrived at work, I was handed a box containing my new batch of business cards. With my married name. I squee'd a bit - and the rest of my team came by to squee with me!

Can't hand them out for another 12 days...!

09.18.10

Let the Showerlette begin!

Basic Info: #1

We have had a few "basic" questions asked as our invitations have been received and RSVPs mailed back. Here's some basic info about our Big Day (or, Big Party, depending on how you look at it!)

1) We are renting a lodge for the ceremony and reception; the ceremony will be out-of-doors, and so will the reception (for the most part).
2) The area around the lodge is woodsy and filled with small boulders. Since we will be outside, you may come in contact with bugs, small animals, and other forms of "nature".

3) Because of the above points (as well as the focus on Big Party and the 30-minute drive up the mountain) we are really stressing comfortable, casual clothing. And sunscreen ;)

4) There will be food. (Yes, we have been asked this, and yes, I giggled a bit)

5) Many of our invitees have told us they will be staying 'up the mountain' for the weekend. There are many B&Bs and rental properties in the area. If you are considering this option, I recommend you check out http://idyllwild.com

5a) Parking will be at a premium because of the location. We are working out the logistics on our end; it would really help if people who know one another could carpool. I'll give you all an update (here, as well as individually) when we have this figured out.

If there are any more questions out there feel free to comment and we will answer them!

The Seven Year Sitch

So, seven years ago, on August 24, Eric and I met at a BBQ thrown by his supervisor/my 'little sister''s foster mother. We like to say that "a 16-year-old with ADHD" introduced us, because his supervisor's adopted daughter (who was 16 at the time) knew him, knew me, and made the following observations:
He says "right on!"
I say "right on!"
He has a weird sense of humor.
I have a weird sense of humor.
They would make a great couple!

::then we met at the BBQ, stayed in Teri's backyard til 1am with three teenage girls *hanging* out of their bedroom window demanding to know if we were going to kiss, or if we were in love "yet"::
::so we moved out onto the curb in front of the house, and talked until the sun came up::
((I called in sick to work that day - it was a Monday morning))

::EJ called me that afternoon and arranged our first "date" (I guess - we went out for coffee) - we spent Every Single evening together for the next three weeks::

Aaand, now it's seven years later. And we're getting married.

Us at Stubricks, where we met for coffee seven years ago.

All thanks to a 16-year-old girl with ADHD! (Thanks, Theresa!)

::Massive Update::

Hello there! I know there have not been a lot of updates on what we have been doing - lack of time to upload photos from the past 30 days onto our flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/monstergirl00 ) ... and who wants to read a long blog post without pictures? No one! Ha!

Soooo, what have we been up to lately?

First of all, me & the womenfolk went up to Santa Barbara for some wine tasting/buying for the wedding. We got two great wines (in great quantities!) - a merlot from Gainey and a reisling from Kalyra.

It was a turn-around trip, but we did stop in Solvang for some goodies, and I got our cake topper (it's a salt&pepper set from Pea Soup Andersons - I'd seen it when FMIL and I were there in May, EJ didn't get to see it when we were there in June [sold out], but I managed to nab the only set on this trip!)

It is totally cute, and totally us! (Also, it's magnetic, so I am faintly terrified that I will separate them and they will ::stick:: back together then shatter upon impact)

Moving right along, EJ and I also went up to Idyllwild *TWICE*, and finally found a place. It is beautiful, and it is all ours! (I'm not posting specific because the entire internetz is NOT invited to the wedding. Sorry, folks)

That's us at The Fort (where the shops are), with Lily Rock in the background.

We have registered at three places: Crate & Barrel, Williams Sonoma, and Target. I will tell you, it was exhausting! After the first go-round (two-plus hours running around a store scanning things and trying to 'think') we realized we would have to break our trips up - and we're adding some online, just because I honestly can't face going back into a store with a scanner *yet *again. I also feel like a slight tool for expecting people to buy us stuff, but that's just me. FYI, Williams Sonoma treated us the best, with coffee and treats (scones and fresh fruit!), and also seemed pretty excited for us (of course!)

We have done some crafting, but I don't have any pictures of that to put up right now. Stuff is slowly but surely getting done. I will emphasize slowly.

Oh! And something realtively exciting:

We got our marriage license two weeks ago! If I had planned it better I would have waited for Friday (the Thirteenth), but I did not. Of course, waaay back in 2006 I was pushing for a 06/06/06 date "just because", but that was waaaay back when I was still in grad school and any type of martial-discussion was TOTALLY not on the table. And I'm much more happy with 10/2/10 anyway!

Total cell phone pic, which does not really hide the nervousness I felt while we were in the Clerk Recorder's office. I almost couldn't sign my name because I was shaking so much. Why? I do not know; like buying the fabric for my dress, this part just seemed so **final**.

That's pretty much the update to this point. Today's our 7 year anniversary, I'm planning to take some pics and give a brief post later on about "How We Met". Real exciting stuff, that - it involves lots of teenage girls, BBQ, a wingman, and an Irish Pub!

Oh those days...

Yesterday: exactly 8 weeks to the Wedding Day.

Two days ago: exactly 51 weeks since EJ proposed.

A Simile

Sometimes, love feels a lot like picking tiny scraps of toilet paper off of 100+ cardboard rolls.

Delegation

On the cakeage front, there has been NO sample cakes made to date. Except the one EJ made to show FMIL ("Mom") his recipe. However, "Mom" has decided she needs to 'brush up' on her cake decorating skills by taking 2 Wilton cake decorating classes at JoAnn's. She is already showing up the other ladies in class (no guys are there, sadly).

This is from her first week:

Cute, eh? EJ's had the honor of ingesting her classwork this week; tomorrow she's frosting and decorating an entire CAKE (but I don't think that's going to EJ - he has plans to shape up before I have to fit him for his wedding outfit!)

Plugging Along...

We've been feverishly working on random bits for the reception. Favor containers:

This is part one of ((three, sadly)) - trying to ready everything for the big minion-fest we should be having in August or early-early September to get all this stuff completed.

EJ has also been working diligently:

He has been working on some of the deco for our centerpieces. It is slowly but surely coming along!

One thing we have learned recently: (Jeep - shocks) + huge pothole + poorly wrapped vases = broken glass + frustration. Lesson learned.

We have also ::finally:: found a vendor who (doesn't carry, but has ordered) another part of our centerpieces for us; and Karen, our former Flower Maiden who has given herself a new and better title which I promptly deleted from my text messages before I could update her on the sidebar, has generously donated a HUUUUGE bag of felt which will become components for multiple deco and favor items...thanks, Ren!

One More Project FINISHED!

Slowly but surely, we (I) are (am) making progress on our long long list of wedding projects:

Knitting Away...

Saturday was official World Wide Knit In Public Day (WWKIP Day, to the initiated!), and I worked on my wedding smoke ring (i.e. veil-like thing that is not a veil):


It is slowly but surely coming along...another week, perhaps, and EJ will build me a blocking board so it gets 'stretched' out and you can see the lace pattern that makes it up...and understand why it's called a smoke ring!*


*because it is a light and airy, almost ephemeral, circle scarf. Kinda like a smoke ring, in yarn form.

Heed the Announcement!

Save the Date announcements have been addressed, stamped, and mailed.

I guess we have to add some "interesting" content now, as ::hopefully:: some of our potential guests will be visiting here shortly!

I hope they leave comments....

Attire Progress

Last weekend Jen and I went "fabric" shopping for my dress. I say "fabric" because what I am using is non-traditional - but then what else could a Viking BBQ be? LOL

I had a *very* difficult time picking exactly which colors I was going to use - the selection was pretty good. And no, it was not between "white" "snow" "eggshell" "ecru" etc - non-traditional, remember? We were careful not to pick anything exactly from the wedding palette (with nine colors to choose from, it was difficult), and I kept being drawn to the blues (my mental image has always included navy or a deep blue for the dress) but THERE IS NO BLUE IN OUR WEDDING (EJ was actually joking with me about this before we left for shopping). And, picking the colors/fabric seems so, well, *final* (nothing like putting a 50% deposit for our photographers - that was actually fun!) After a lot of back-and-forth and comparisons, I made my decision.

This is what I finally chose:

Two sets of jersey sheets; the picture does NOT do the colors justice. The green is a deep sage-y green, and the gray is very much "stone" (Jen keeps calling it "taupe" but there is no brown to the color - the pic makes it look like mint + heather gray, and that's totally inaccurate).

I'm still (1) working on the prototype shirt, to practice my technique before I cut into  my "yardage", and (2) frantically trying to locate a dress or top/skirt pattern that will *work* for me. Slow and steady, I guess. At least I still have time!

EJ's fabric arrived in the mail at the beginning of June; I will post a pic once I take one, and then I will distribute swatches of all three fabrics to the Minions (um, because they want them).

A Necessary Evil

So, I just ordered our Save the Date cards (or StDs, as they are known to the wedding-wise. There are a lot of sexual innuendo'd phrases in the wedding world. But I digress). It was arduous.

Between personal malfunctions (could not find an appropriate picture *anywhere*), font frustrations (why does NO ONE have an ornate font THAT INCLUDES ORNATE NUMBERS! why?!?), the technological one almost sent me over the edge.

I was seriously contemplating handwriting each note, then tying it to a rock and throwing it at our invitees. Seriously. The Vikings would have wanted it that way....

I was using PSPrint, which is an overall good website with Excellent Customer Service. I know, because I spent about 20 minutes talking with their help line or whoever answers the 1-800 number trying to figure out why my uploaded photos would not show up. The employee was fairly patient with me, was able to research exactly what was going on, then hand-hold me through the rest of the process. I *really* appreciated that!

We should receive them next week, then we can address & stamp them (sorry, you are all getting computer-printed address labels on these!) and get them in the mail. The #1 downside is that apparently PSPrint will NOT put our blog address on the cards. Sooo, guess who gets to stick little labels on all the postcards with our blog address??? (hint: his initials are E J)

::ugh::

Had my third wedding-related dream last night. The first to qualify as "bad dream".

It centered around things that are out of my control, and that I can't ultimately change. Kinda helpess (like those the-bell-rang-and-youre-late-to-class-and-getting-detention dreams I had in high school).

Woke up feeling disappointed and worried; sure hope these don't continue!

((The other two were also circumstances outside my control related, but I woke from those thinking, "oh well!" And feeling pretty OK))

Crafting Update

Inspired by a project on The Long Thread, I spent some time two weeks ago at a Quilt Retreat making a ribbon wreath for the wedding.

Ribbon bought on sale (70% off!) at Tall Mouse going out of business sale; 12" foam wreath bought 40% off at JoAnns; completed wreath. I followed the directions completely, but I did end up using a LOT more ribbon than reccomended. I wanted a very full wreath.

I think it will be hung on the front door of the Wedding House...

(I also worked on our string of pennants, but wasn't able to get them sewn up by the end of Retreat. Planning on finishing them and posting a few pics within the next week or so!)