X-ref

The wedding spreadsheet is named "bubble of tulle" and it contains most thing bubble of tulle related. It's a biiiiig spreadsheet.  But I also have several other documents on the computer, of addresses and who's invited to what lists. To which I say, thank god for copy and paste.

But here and there, new things trickle in. A changed address, a noticed misspelling, an invite you don't want to send but know you have to*, ect... So, then I have to change something. But then once I change something on the master list, that means I have to find and change the other 14 places that I have the information on, so as not to be confused about anything.

Now, there's this handy thing in autocad called an x-ref. And basically, it's the master drawing and you change anything on it, it updates all the other drawings that are layered on top of it.  It's pretty awesome and frankly it spoiled me because I know such things are possible.

Because what I really really want, as I'm hunting for those 14 different places I've got the same info on, is an x-ref for wedding stuff.

*I also would like an "undesirable" table. Besides being banished from all the cool tables, they also must sit furthest from the head table and the bar.

Jersey

The other night I was way too tired to cook, so we ordered carryout from a little italian place down the street from us.  I went with fettechini alfredo, which is a weakness of mine. I can't say I have a favorite food in general, but I'm always willing to give a fettechini alfredo a shot at a new place.  This place's was pretty good, but also really heavy like a good proper fettechini alfredo should be what with the heavy cream and pound of butter that's in it and all.

After dinner the dryer buzzed, so we head upstairs to fold it (if I don't fold the laundry within 10 minutes of taking it out of the dryer, I don't fold the laundry). And for reasons I don't know/remember, Mike makes a jersey shore reference and starts to make up his own version of a jersey shore* dance.  However, yours truly didn't think his version was as slutty or idiotic enough for it to be a true jersey shore dance. So I decide to show him my take on it, thrashing around like they do in the clips I see on The Soup.**

Then, having thoroughly shaken myself and my stomach content around like an idiot, I realize, quite quickly I might add, that was not my best idea.  Much like Jersey shore in general is.

*This is an extremely rare case of pop culture where Mike knows more about it than me.** By that I mean he just knows knows the names of the ompaloompas on the show, where as I just call them ompaloompahs.  Other than that, we know nothing further.
** This is the furthest extent that I watch any of Jersey Shore
*** I don't know if I should be proud of him for this or slightly ashamed.

Alternatives

We're the first couple to get married at our venue, so the place/staff pretty much has no idea what we can and cannot do. For example:  most places don't allow confetti, rice, bird seed, flower petals, ect, to be tossed at the couple because it is a pain in the ass to clean up.  However, at my venue, totally ok to do so (because they have no idea).
When I asked if we could have a unity candle in the ceremony (more on that in a second), they also said that was alright. As long as we have the fire martial present. Which, what? Three lit candles total, burning for a half hour in a room with 150 people to keep an eye on it, and I have to have a fire martial? But we can have those same 150 people each throw a handful of rice at us, create a big ol' mess and that's ok?

Anyway, rather than make a fuss about it, I just figure we can do something else in lui of the unity candle.  So I google* unity candle alternatives, and here are some alternatives:

• Sand. (Mike's brother did this at his wedding. It was nice) 
• Water (Colored water, white dress, my penchant for splashing....not so much)
• Knot tying (3 ropes: bride, groom, and god. Fine for some couples, but definitely not us.)
• Foot washing. (my uncle and his wife did this. It's as awkward and weird as that sounds)

But the one that just took the cake for us was:

• Painting.  Two canvases, side by side, and the moms place brushes up there. The bride and groom then each squiggle some abstract artistic line across the seam, spanning both canvases. So that, if separated, the abstract canvases look silly, but when joined together, create a unified, symbolic, and unique piece.  Uh huh.

Now, as I'm reading this idea to Mike, we are both just laughing groaning at the cheese factor and the clicheness of it all.  It's a unique** enough take on the idea, but it's campy as hell.***

Now with an influx if alternatives, I start thinking logistics. Because one of the elements that I really like in the unity candle ceremony is our moms lighting the two candles prior to us. So if we use something like sand, water, or even colored rocks to pour into a vase, how do we get our moms involved? Do they pour whatever we decide to use into something first? Do they carry it down the aisle?  So then I start cracking up at the thought of having our moms carry a bag of rocks down the aisle. (oh like you aren't laughing either. It's a bag of rocks!) Needless to say, the idea needs some more thought.  

*Does anyone else get slightly disappointed when they open google and it's the regular logo and not a google doodle?
**IE: stupid.**** 
***Plus, is it really all that unique if the other thousands of couples getting married this have to share the same 8 ideas? Just saying.
****Judging! Judging!

Party Planner

I am a party planner.  It's my dream job (that is after the head librarian for NPR and if that doesn't work out, the fallback is a dragon tamer (what?)).  And, I'm getting married in 4 months. (squeee!!!!) 

Anyway, my bridal posse/henchmen/entourage is in the midst of planning my shower and bachelorette party, which I'm just so excited and tickled pink about.  I'm just as excited for those as I am about the wedding.It is a party for me (and by some extension dr soc) and my lovely ladies are hosting. I'm doing my best to stay out of it, trust them (which I do, completely), and not suggest stuff. 

As a bride I'm excited and happy and just so thankful to have such wonderful people in my lives to do this for me. Though I have to admit, the party planner in me is going nuts!

Super Power

So. I have a super power.
And that would be the ability to fall asleep without fail on the couch by 11:30 pm. (at the latest)

No matter what I am doing, reading, watching tv, playing on the interwebs, if my derriere is on the couch, my mind zones and my eye lids drop like lead.  Mike has gotten used to it by now, and now just wakes me up when it's time to go to bed and to real sleep. (I think he also likes the quiet so he lets me sleep)
One night as we were going to real bed I asked Mike what time I had fallen asleep, figuring it had been around 11ish.  Mike informed me I was out, snoring, by 9:30. (In fairness that night, I had pulled an overnight at work and was running on 3.5 hours of sleep. See also: I am not a college kid anymore).

Yep. Super power indeed.

Fred Astaire

Mike is a man of many talents. Dancing, however is not one of them.  He's not bad,  but he's not exactly Fred Astaire.  Anywho, by the time I realized this, I was way too far gone in love with him and just planned right then and there to take a couple of lessons for our wedding to avoid the middle school shuffle first dance.  So when there was a groupon for a few dancing lessons, and that the deadline to use it was right before the wedding, I snapped 2 of those up in a second.  And then once I committed to my shoes (more on those in a minute), I decided that I better book these lessons so we would have time to practice.

Tuesday we had our first lesson, which was fun.  Though I think I had more a little more fun than Mike.  He was fairly tense through the whole lesson because he was concentration so, so hard.  He can learn the steps and follow the beat, but I think he's more nervous than he's telling me (I can read your body language dear. After all, I have to learn how to follow you.)

But back to me. We walk into the dance studio and I'm carrying my shoes in their box.  The very flamboyant receptionist is super excited to see them, and asks if it's ok to take them out of the box while the groom is right there. I have no qualms about Mike seeing the shoes since they give nothing away about the dress, say sure and hand over the box.

He lifts the lid, pulls back the tissue paper and squeals "those are fabulous!" 
I didn't want to say this in front of him, but as we were getting in the car to go home, I say to Mike: When a gay man tells you you have fabulous shoes, your do indeed, have very fabulous shoes! 

Merely Flesh Wound

The other night I tried a new recipe and made a pot of black bean soup in the crockpot.  I didn't read the instructions all the way through (rookie mistake), but it was only 2 steps so it's not like the cooking world stopped. Step 1 is to throw everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 8* hours. Done. Step two was to remove the pork blade ribs and bones from the soup after cooking, shred the meat that is falling off the bone and but it back into the soup that you have used and an emulsion blender on to puree it. Except that I don't have an emulsion blender.  But that's ok, because I do have a stand blender that I can ladle the soup into.  So I put half the soup into the blender, place the lid on, and hit puree.
The lid of the blender popped right off, but I still had my hand on the lid and was able to catch it before it flew completely off and put it back into place before I coated my kitchen in black bean soup. But, because I still had my hand on the lid, some of the soup splashed out of the blender and onto my wrist.  This is liquid that has been in cooking in the crockpot for 6 hours, and it's near boiling. In other words, really, really hot. Burn worthy hot. So when it hits my wrist, I cry out in pain.

So all Mike hears is the blender being turned on and then me crying in pain. He's terrified I've just crushed my hand. He's in the kitchen in half a second, frantically asking if I'm ok and what happened.  By this point I had had enough sense to turn off the blender, turn around and run cold water over my wrist, but it still hurts pretty fierce, and I'm still a little too shaken up to tell him what happened one way or the other.  But I manage to take a breath and tell him, that yes, I am ok, I just burned** my wrist pretty bad.

Mike's reaction? "oh thank god, just a burn!"  

*I cheated and did 2 hours on high and 4 hours on low in order to eat sooner.  I have a very hungry man to feed at regular intervals or else he gets cranky. Though I get cranky too if I don't eat, so this goes both ways and we always make sure to feed one another.
**At most it was a 2nd degree burn in some spots. There's a little redness and some skin tenderness, but everything is fine.

Oh, and by the way, the soup was yummy!        

Missing the Point

The day after the marathon, this girl walks in to breakfast in her sweats.  Well, she was sorta in sweats.
--hushed tones--
mike: Is...is that girl not wearing a shirt?
--we all look over--
lb: She has something on, it has a hood I think?  But it seems to stop at her midriff.
me: So, she's wearing a sweatshirt that exposes her stomach? I thought people wore sweats to cover up? She's sorta missing the point of the sweatshirt.
lb: She is completely missing the point of that hoodie!
me: Yeah, the only reason you wear a something like that in the first place is to show off. That her "problem areas" aren't a problem.
lb: Agreed. She's totally showing off.
mom: So, is she not wearing a shirt?
me: I don't think so.
lb: Because then what would be the point of that sweat shirt?

Dancing Feet

I did something I don't normally do when it comes to shoe shopping for my wedding shoes: I bought them online. After giving up on trying to find a cute heel in a wide option, I decided to go with simply fabulous.  Which I got. In pink. Because why the hell not?  Well, anyway, they arrive and I'm super excited because they are a: my wedding shoes. and b: super cute. But at the time I was too tired to try them on and prance around because I had just gotten off work.

A few days later I remove all the tissue paper and get them on my feet. And they feel....interesting. They don't feel bad, but they do feel like something. There's a strap near my arch and it's not something I usually wear. But the heel is a great height for me (3", not too tall and I can walk all day in that), they are pink and fabulous, and when I put them next to my dress, they work. (I would tell you why, but that means I would have to describe a key element of my dress and since my fiance reads my blog won't share any details  Not that he knows what I'm describing anyway.)

Anyway, long story short, I decided to go with the shoes. So I'm walking around the house in them trying to break them in a little bit (and I may or may not have been prancing around looking at my feet and singing wedding shoes! wedding shoes! to the dogs).  I also plan on wearing them to our dancing lessons later this month. (I jumped on that groupon in about 2 seconds. Mike is very talented in many areas, but dancing is not one of them).  It's highly practical of me to learn how to dance in them.

But actually, I don't need to learn how to dance in heels, because I can definitely do that. It's dancing in the heavy dress that I need to learn how to do! 
   

What a Differance a Day Makes

Of course I know how many months there are until the wedding. (Four and a half. Like you're surprised I know that).  And the Saturday of thanksgiving weekend was the 6 months out mark.  But since I did so much (pre) planning and had most of the big things decided (and more importantly, booked) at that point, 6 months didn't seem like a huge OMG moment.
I figured that since it was still 2011, it still seemed far away enough on the calender.  But maybe when 2012 came around, the year we're actually getting married in (squee!), it might be harder to pull me from the tulle vortex. 
And yep, two days into the new year, I may have freaked out about ordering the invites because I didn't account for printing time.  And I finally booked a florist. Mike and I ordered our wedding bands the other day too (mine is sparkly!). I bought wedding shoes (though I'm not 100% sold on them just yet), and started seriously asking around about tailors.
Yep, the first few months of 2012 will be wedding-centric for me! 

Waiting Game

So. After all the waiting, nerves, tears and frustration of just getting into grad school, I finally received my acceptance letter.  I applied for in-state residency, seeing as that's what I am, and I will have been here for 12 months by the time spring semester started.

But because I can't document that, I was classified as out of state.  And the tuition for that is roughly 3 times higher.  Even with loans, it's still a lot of money.  Dr soc's extra income is paying for my dream wedding.  That leaves my part time retail job, which is mainly being used to slowly pay off my credit card. (Spare the lectures y'all. I had no income for almost 9 months and a stupid high interest rate. And contrary to some people's beliefs, I'm not an idiot when it comes to money).  But the point is that there's not a lot of extra money floating around as it is, and especially not enough to cover out of state.

Fortunately, getting my mrs to a North Carolina resident in May should be enough to qualify me for in state tuition by the fall semester.  So I'm deferring until then. Which does bum me out, waiting even longer to get my career started. But, it is what it is. And honestly, with all the stress and freaking out about getting into school, I really didn't process or prepare for starting grad school. So in a way it's a good thing.

Still. These little stepping stones are annoying me.

Junior

me: I think large is the smallest size they have here. It seems that jerseys don't come in anything smaller than linebacker size for the fans.
mike: Looks like it, and the the XXL is just ridiculous. Wish I could wear a kids' size like you.  
me: It is handy, and cheaper. Though I need to find out if I'm a kids' large or extra large. We'll just check out the boys' department while we're here.
mike: Sure. Hmm, where is it? ::looks around and sees the directional signs:: Oh, juniors is over that way.
me: Oh, no. Not juniors. We need to stay away from there.
mike: Juniors isn't kids?
me: Oh no. No honey, juniors is teen girls.
Mike just flinches. There may have been a shudder in there too.

Resolve

In 2010 my resolution was to graduate college. Which I did. In December.
In 2011 my resolution was to get into grad school. Which I did. Also in December.
Nothing like waiting until the last minute I suppose. 
So for this year, 2012, I'm just resolving to walk the dogs more.  That'll work.
Happy New Year!