Problem solved!

We've been having cake trouble for months. We were not impressed by our first baker and we couldn't get a hold of her to get a contract signed. We knew that we needed to find another bakery, but there were a lot of issues involved, including an expensive cake cutting fee. But, sometimes things work themselves out. Joe called our venue and told them about the cake issues. Apparently, our baker has actually retired (thanks for telling us, lady!) and we could pick any bakery we wanted with no cake cutting fee!

Today, we met my mom at the bakery we've been wanting to use for a while. We tasted the flavors we were pretty sure we wanted and also tried a new one just for fun. Everyone loved the cake design that I had fallen in love with the first time we went in. So, the contract is signed and another huge wedding to-do is checked off!

We're having a three layer, round cake. The top and bottom tiers are pear and the middle tier is chocolate with raspberry filling. I'm really happy everything worked out so well. :)

Stressful day at the vet

So today we took Ameera to the vet. When you adopt, the shelter gives you a free exam voucher good at several vet clinics. We wanted to take advantage of that and see what the vet thought of her kitty cold and her spay incision.

The vet looked her all over. She weighs 3 lbs 13 oz. She is also closer to 5 months of age than 6 months (which we already suspected) so her birthday is now October 25. She is teething. The vet said it looked like she had had an allergic reaction to the stitches from her spay so it will probably take her a little longer than usual to heal, but it was not infected and she didn't have a fever.

Then came the stressful part of the visit. Kitty colds are common, but occasionally they can be a sign of something more serious. A mama cat can transfer Feline Leukemia and FIV (both serious diseases) to her kittens. Both of these diseases can be transmitted to other cats. Some vets recommend putting down kitties who test positive for either disease.

Since Ameera is not 100% healthy, the vet recommended that we test her for both diseases. (To make sure her kitty cold is just a regular cold.) Luckily, it is a fast test and we could wait for the results.

After 20 minutes of mega stress and worrying, we got the good news: Double negatives! Her kitty cold should clear up on its own and she should be just fine.

Wedding shoes!

So today I was feeling a little bored and decided to look online for wedding shoes. The shoe search has been a little difficult because I wanted purple shoes, with a shortish heel, that wouldn't fall off of my foot. Most shoes with short heels are slide ons, which wouldn't work very well for dancing all night. I found these shoes today and they happened to be on a fantastic sale so I ordered them!

I haven't posted a lot of wedding related pictures. I want to keep almost everything a surprise, but I thought I would post a pic of my shoes. I can't wait until they get here!

99 days

In 99 days, I will be a Mrs. To celebrate being under 100 days, Joe and and I went to dinner at the 5 Alls. We had money saved from Joe's last placement and we've been meaning to have a 5 Alls dinner for months. Other things kept coming up until Joe had the brilliant idea to go for our -100 days. Everything was wonderful and Canon in D (what I am walking down the aisle to) played while we were eating. It was perfect. :)

My dress is altered and I bought my veil. The favor supplies have arrived. It feels like there are just a few things left to do, until I start listing them off in my head. Then I realize that there are still a million things to do. But mostly fun things, things I am excited to start working on.

Sometimes I have "I'm getting married!" moments. And I still can't believe I found such a wonderful man to spend my life with.

99 days to go!

Ameera

Last week, Joe and I decided to get another cat. My mom had told me months ago that one of the shelters was adopting out adult cats for free. I went to their website to see if they were still doing free adoptions (they were!) and made the mistake of looking at pictures. Then Joe looked at the pictures and we decided late Thursday night to take a Friday afternoon trip to the shelter.

Going to the shelter, however, was extremely difficult (as always). It hurts my heart to see all the animals who just want someone to love and take care of them. Joe looked at some dogs, but I couldn't. It was hard enough to look at all the kitties and have to pick one.

There were a lot of sweet kitties and they were all so handsome/beautiful. Joe and I were both immediately drawn to a tiny muted tortie girl named Ranier. She was 6 months old, which meant she was an "adult" and her adoption would be free. We got her cage number and then met her in the "get to know you" room. She was just as charming and affectionate as she had been in her cage and we were in love. There were a couple of other kitties we were planning to see too, but we didn't want to make the decision any harder than it already was.

We filled out some paperwork and they said we could pick her up on Monday (she needed to be spayed) I was so anxious waiting for her all weekend and finally today at 3, we could go pick her up. The woman at the desk said we were lucky, several people had tried to adopt Ranier over the weekend. (I hope they chose another kitty. There were so many sweet ones!) Then they brought out our baby and some medicine she needed for her spay and her kitty cold.

Now she is home and she is so happy. She used her cat pan right away and ate a whole dish of food and played. And played. And played. She has just now settled down on my lap. Bo has met her briefly and really wants to play with her, but wasn't allowed to because of her stitches. I'm sure they will be best friends.

And she wasn't a Ranier. She is a princess so we looked up princess names and found Ameera. I think it suits her very well.