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.

Valentine's weekend

I don't care what anyone says about Valentine's Day being a made up holiday, I love it! I spent years being sad on Valentine's Day and now that I have someone to share it with, I really look forward to it.

Of course, this holiday was the last one with me being "single." Joe and I spent most of the weekend cuddled on the couch watching the Olympics. On Saturday night/Sunday morning at 12:01, we gave each other our Valentine presents. Joe gave me a gorgeous amethyst and diamond necklace. I gave him some fun boxers and a book about ancient civilizations.

On Sunday, Joe brought me some beautiful red tulips (very springy!) and we watched more Olympics. That evening, we got all dressed up and went to Market Street Grill for dinner. We got some super yummy crab stuffed mushrooms. Joe got seared ahi tuna (bleg) and I got halibut (yum). We wanted two different desserts so Joe ordered key lime pie and I ordered creme brulee.

Joe didn't have school on Monday and we were planning to go to the zoo with my mom, Ethan, Jessica, and baby James. Unfortunately, it was too rainy to have the baby outside so we opted for the aquarium instead. It was crowded, but awesome. I can't wait until the penguins arrive next month! James was so sweet watching the fish. After a while, though, he got grouchy and needed to go in his stroller for a nap.

It was a really great weekend. :)

Big wedding checks!

The last couple of weeks have been very busy with the wedding. We think we've decided on a new cake (with very tasty flavors!) We also booked a really amazing videographer. A wedding video was really take it or leave it with me, but my mom insisted we have one. So we met with a videographer she met at the wedding show. He showed us some demos and they were fabulous. By the end of the meeting, I was set on booking him. We also have a wonderful florist. She is so nice and helpful (not to mention budget friendly!)

Tomorrow, I go in for my first dress fitting. It's a little early, but the dress needs to be taken in two sizes and I am anxious to see how it really fits. I've been a little sad about buying a sample dress lately, but I never could have bought this dress new. I also committed the #1 bride to be sin and went dress shopping after I bought it just to make sure there wasn't something else out there. It is still my favorite.

I almost feel like I can take a break, but then I think of all the little things that still need to be done. It's ok though. Aside from the cake stress, I think most of the big stuff is worked out.

143 days to go!

Wedding stuff

With 158 days to go, I've been kind of in wedding overdrive lately. Here are some updates:

~Changed the idea for centerpieces, just a little

~Picked bridesmaid dresses (finally!)

~Ordered save the dates to be mailed out on Monday!

~Picked a couple of invitation styles I like

~Finished paying for my dress

~Registered at Bed Bath and Beyond (really fun day)

I do have some very important tasks for the next couple of weeks:

~Figure out baker stuff

~Talk to someone about flowers

I think things are really starting to come together!

2009

So I guess I'll hop on the "Goodbye to 2009" blog post bandwagon. 2009 has been kind of a rollercoaster year for me. They say that three of the biggest emotional events you can go through in life are: Dealing with death, divorce, and moving. Even though my grandma died in October 2008, I think I am still trying to deal with it over a year later. I got engaged, which is the opposite of getting divorced, but still a huge life change. I also moved twice. In March, I moved in with Joe and in October, we both moved into the basement of my grandparent's house with David living upstairs.

We are really liking where we live. We have a beautiful fireplace and there is room for our pets to run around. Sometimes it is difficult to have a housemate, but most of the time it is actually really nice.

In many ways, 2009 was the best year of my life. Joe asked me to marry him. I also became an aunt on November 24 to my wonderful nephew, James.

It hasn't all been wonderful. I've noticed that my anxiety issues have gotten worse. I put in a lot of job applications and went to several interviews with no luck (although, I am going to sell Avon soon, which will hopefully provide a little money until we get married and I can go back to school.)

So, I am looking forward to 2010 (especially June). It's going to be another busy year, but I am excited to see what it brings.