It's getting to be that time...

I feel badly right now, since most of our phone calls and emails to friends are consisting of tying loose ends up regarding the wedding. And I hate being one of those people that only seem to talk about their wedding all the time. Because we DO have other stuff going on! Really! It's just not as fun to talk about, is the thing. I'm sure most would agree if I brought any of it up for your review. But I don't think I'll do that to anyone, really.

I mean, who wants to hear about how things are disintegrating at my old office, and my coworker/friend who still works there is dealing with hellish work conditions, along with everyone else in the office, on a day to day basis? Yeah, not so interesting if it doesn't involve you, right?

Or, how about the way that the dog threw up yesterday after she ate half of a click pen the night before? See? I should keep that sort of thing to myself.

Um...I have something itchy on my back that is bothering me in a relentless fashion today. Fascinating, eh?

See what I mean? The wedding stuff is the FUN stuff! The what-to-buy-the-parents talks, and the last minute additions to the decor ideas, and the meetings with the vendors, and the questions of who's staying where when they're in town, and the putting together of the gift bags for the OOT ("out of town") guests, and all that sort of thing...MUCH more fun than discussing the turmoil that is our back lawn, or other daily drudgery and bitter issues.

I'm supposed to meet with the wedding coordinator tonight to go over more details, discuss vendors, and in order to get her copies of all the contracts we have associated with our wedding. But I haven't heard from her yet as to whether she's able to make our appointment, and so I'm not sure if we're going to actually be meeting. But that's fine with me...I still haven't had a chance to make copies of things and print out the decor ideas she was interested in seeing, and I'm totally flexible with my schedule anyway, so I could put it off another week or two if she needs.

This week, I've been trying to find ideas for the contents of the aforementioned OOT gift boxes, and then trying to get the last piece of the favor puzzle put into place, and also trying to find the time to pull together the items I need for my meeting with the coordinator. Not super exciting, really. Except I did have fun looking into chocolates to put into the OOT boxes...I think I found the perfect option, too! It's still a toss-up right now as to whether I put chocolates into the boxes, or a small assortment of tea cookies. We'll see. Both are made by a company that is local to KC, and that's all that matters. In fact, all the items in the OOT box will be local to Kansas City. It's been so much fun looking things up to put in there! I can't wait until I can start ordering and assembling...

Because I'm a loon like that. :)

Anyway, thanks to all who have to deal with our semi-constant wedding discussions as of late. It's only 2 more short months that you have to put up with this sort of thing from us, and then we're all free from the monotony! (And what a way to go out, too...yay!)

Head spinning...tummy rumbling...AUGH!

I just was entering an appointment onto my calendar for next Tuesday, and noticed that the second half of the payment we owe to the Brewery for rental of the space for our reception is due on Monday.

[breathing in, breathing out...breathing in......]

AUGH!

My heart is suddenly beating very quickly, and I feel dizzy. I wish I was kidding.

What the hell is happening to me? Is this a normal reaction? Is it even considered a reaction of some sort?

It's not about the wedding. It's not about marrying Jesse. I think it's about the worry about getting everything done. In time. And right.

I wish I could climb into bed until October 27th right about now...

The first one came in...

Since last week, we've had a steady stream of RSVPs coming in for the wedding, and it's been so much fun to get them every day!

However, the unfortunate incident where I forgot to number the RSVP cards came back to bite us for the first time this weekend...we got an RSVP from someone who replied that they WILL BE attending, and there will be 2 of them. So that's nice! But I haven't any idea who they are. No return address on the envelope, no name written in in the designated spot on the RSVP...nothing. Even the hopefully helpful clue of the postmark won't do anything for us...it was just a set of wavy lines. Unlike all the other cards we received back, which had the names of the invited included in some way or another, and said clearly if it had been sent from South Bend, or Long Beach, or Santa Ana...this one in particular had an issue with that postmark being printed properly, so all it showed were lines and no city stamp.

So we'll just have to wait until we get them all back, and hope that we won't get any more like it. *sigh!*

I blame myself, really. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

Ok, I'm off to look up some info on the hotels, and then to get to work on my thank you notes for shower gifts. Seriously...I am TERRIBLE with these things. I try, though! What more can one do, really?

Fun with the kids' section...

For the past few months, I've been trying to figure out how we can make the seating area in the Kids' Section as comfy and inviting as we can. It's tough to find furniture that's both functional and comfy, and is more temporary like a lawn chair, but is still something that would be classy enough to have associated with the somewhat formal reception we're attempting to throw.

So I've been keeping an eye out, ever since the idea of renting furniture was tossed out the window (it was going to cost a minimum of $5,000, and that wasn't in my budget...not by a long shot!), trying to find options that wouldn't break the bank, but would also not be second-hand random pieces found out on the curb of people's homes that didn't want them any more. (I saw a couch not too long ago on my way home from the Plaza...it was yellow, and it was free! But it was missing a seat cushion. Which kinda defeats the purpose, IMO. Who gets to sit on that side of the couch if you take it home? It was also missing a back leg, and was sitting, instead, on a modified plastic carton of some sort to support it. Sometimes, people just need to realize they aren't doing anyone a favor handing on trash like that...just throw it out!)

Each week, I would visit Bed, Bath, & Beyond looking for something...and last week I finally found it:

They're called "planet puff chairs" and after getting some advice about whether I should get them or not from my nieces, I went ahead and ordered 3 of the brown ones for the Kid's Section. They arrived at the house this week, and I finally took them out of their packaging last night to give them a try. They are, indeed, very comfy and a good size for all ages that might want to sit in them.

I had also been watching for some reasonably priced floor cushions. Bed, Bath, & Beyond only has one type, and they aren't reasonable. I needed more options. My visit to Crate & Barrel this week proved fruitful! I found these on sale:

Gold and pretty, and perfect for a kid-sized bum to sit on...and they have a handy-dandy handle on the side, so carrying them about will be that much easier! Score! I ordered 4.

Jesse thinks we should also have a rug of some sort in that area, and while I agree, I don't know how doable it will be. We have a rug we could donate to the cause, and I suppose that we could just transport it at the same time in the same way that we do the chairs and the floor cushions, but I dunno. We'll have to see.

Anyway, things are coming together ever so slowly at this point. But I'm glad to have this little task completed...the kiddos will have a comfy place to sit and watch a movie, if they'd like. That makes me happy...

Please forgive me...for the next 2 months!

I am under a tremendous amount of stress right now. Between personal and professional obligations, my brain is on overload, and I'm sincerely hoping that everyone that I know and love and communicate with on a daily/weekly basis can try to understand how tough it has been to balance everything going on in our lives for these last couple of months, and the next few to come.

Jesse has a new job.
My job is incredibly busy.
My body isn't being very friendly with me lately, which makes things oh so much less tolerable on a day to day basis.
The heat...is just unbearable. I hate this part of summer, and cannot WAIT to see it go!
Our house is becoming more and more crowded full of items for the wedding that we'll need, and the clutter is driving me up the wall.
The dog has been coughing for about 2 weeks now, and we think its from her licking the carpet we have on the deck which has started "shedding" due to the exposure to the extreme heat and dryness we've had lately. I feel so bad for her, but I haven't the first clue how to get her to stop licking that carpet!
Work has one charity event after another, and I went ahead and volunteered to be the coordinator for our team for the next one coming up, even though I didn't really want to. I don't know that my brain will be able to withstand the additional strain of trying to raise funds from people that have already given so much over the past several months. But my coworker assured me that its more fun than it is work, and my boss was so pleased that I was able to help, I thought it would be a fine idea. Now I'm feeling overwhelmed by it already, and we haven't even had our first meeting about it yet!
I'm trying to tie up loose ends of the wedding planning, including working on fixing hotel blocks that weren't long enough for some members of the family and other friends that will be coming into town for longer than just 2 days for the wedding, finalizing menus, making appointments to see vendors to finalize other plans like the music, the babysitting issues and timelines for the day before and the day of the wedding, managing the deliveries of the rented items for the reception, finalizing the alcohol order (and hoping it'll be a good amount!), going to dance lessons and trying to find time to practice when Jesse and I aren't totally exhausted or just not in the mood, picking up things like the insoles I need to make my pretty, pretty wedding shoes actually not painful to wear, and trying to keep my brain from leaking out of my ears when I run into unexpected stress from issues that are beyond my control.
I need to finish all of my thank you notes for my wedding shower that my sister threw for me in California about, oh, a month ago now! (GOD, I am awesome...)
I haveto figure out how we can register the new car. And just how much is it going to cost us.
I need to make the next appointment for Jesse's dentist visit, and hope that his work will allow for him to have two days off in a row again so he'll have ample recovery time, since this next visit won't be as easy as the last.

And those are just the things I can think of right now. I'm a leeetle bit stressed, is my point. And my head hurts. And I'm sorry if I snap or don't respond as expected or don't respond at all to certain things in the coming months. I want to have fun with this...I really do. But I don't know how to do that when there are just so many other things to worry about at the same time. I'm very envious of the girls that don't have to work, and can actually spend all their time planning and preparing for their weddings. Even though I kind of am disgusted by them at the same time, really. Because it's just a party. The getting married part is the important part of the day, and the rest is just a freaking party. It'll be a really lovely party, of course, but that's all it is. Trying to keep focussed on the important things over here...

It's not easy. :)

Hotel Info continued...

Sorry about the Sheraton post not working before. I think I've fixed it...you can click here to see our wedding webpage they created for us, and also make reservations within our room block.

Thanks for pointing that out, Alisha! :)

Sorry...so sorry...

I haven't had a chance to update for a while, and I apologize for that! For the whole 5 of you that read this blog, anyway. :)

So today was a milestone: I sent out the invitations. Yay! I finished the stuffing of the envelopes last night after a yummy dinner we made with our new crockpot (which we've used twice this week already, and holy LORD, how did we live without one for this long? Thanks to Aunt Karen, my step mom's sister-in-law, we can now live in general ease for a couple of days of the week on a regular basis...), and then popped them into one of the lovely baskets I got for my shower here in Kansas (thanks to FMIL's faboolous taste in gifts...) and took them to the post office today to have them sent out on their way.

On the way to the post office, I had an alarming realization, though. I totally forgot to number the back of the RSVP cards. I called my Twin to mope about that realization, and she asked me why that was necessary? I explained that it's done so if someone doesn't fill out their name on the RSVP card, I can match it up with a list I have of all the invitees and I can figure out who was responding even without the info written in for me.

Now, if someone sends their response without filling in their name, I'm pretty well screwed. I guess the process of elimination will have to be applied, and I'm seriously hoping that it doesn't happen with too many of the RSVP's, but I have heard of it being a problem amongst the brides on the different bridal-prep websites I had been frequenting for the past few months.

So, if you few readers could do me a favor and spread the word to the people you know who are invited, and make sure they realize that writing in their names on the RSVP card would be ever so helpful to us, I sure would appreciate it!

Something dopey like this was bound to happen sometime...it is ME after all. Sheesh!

Whew!

Well, a visit to my local post office (local to work, anyway!) cleared up any questions I might have about sending the invitations. Our personalized stamp should cover everything just fine! So as soon as those come, we'll be good to go...

I'm going to be spending a good part of tomorrow night (Jesse's working a double, poor thing...yay for overtime, though!) placing the stamps on the RSVP return envelopes, though, and then completing the compilation of the invites, so all I'll need to do is stick the personalized stamp on them when they get here, and then pop them in the mail! Eeeeee!!