Arbor Pt. II

This is the arbor in our backyard that we are going to get married under.

In other news, today we got fabric wallpaper for the family room, chrome molding, a brass chandelier for the dining room, plants for the front and backyard, and curtains for the library all for free from a friend of Gordon's mom's. Woo! I love free awesome stuff!

Arbor

Our arbor that we are going to get married under is up at out house with the mandevilla flowering vines growing up it in pots on either side (this makes it easy to transport to Jeff's but enables us to take care of it). Here is a picture of it that I found online (ours is new and hasn't bloomed yet):

I will take pictures of the arbor tomorrow when we have our memorial day bbq. Yay Ludwig's in town!

Yay affordable cute wedding shoes!

I found the perfect shoes for me for the wedding a few weeks back but they didn't have my size. So I found them online but they didn't have my size there either. So I checked google shopping, amazon, and a whole bunch of other places, but to no avail. Until yesterday. Alison came over and I showed her the shoes I wanted and we decided to call DSW and see if they got my size in, which they did! And the fit perfectly. They're flat and adorable and look like they will go great with my dress. Plus I can totally wear them after the wedding! Yay practical and affordable!

Next, I really need to figure out my bra situation for my dress...

LOST!!!

Gordon said we could pre-order LOST the complete series on blu-ray in 3 weeks (we need more paychecks)!!!!

I personally liked the finale a lot, even though we didn't get a lot of answers, it tied up the series nicely.

Plants

Today we (and by we, I mean Gordon, Kate, John, Beryl, and Jeff and briefly Ed) planted the plants around the area of Jeff's property where we're going to have the ceremony. Kate got some beautiful plants from Daisy Gardens in Bayport. I got there just as they were about to put the mulch down. Then we went out to eat where we always go to eat when we go to Locust Valley, The American Cafe in Glen Cove. The have the best comfort/soul food and dessert.

I had to drive home alone since I went there after work, but I enjoyed it by listening to Laura Marling, Josh Ritter, Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, and ended it with listening to my future wedding song, The Gambler by fun. It actually made me tear up. Sometimes I get frustrated, overwhelmed, and anxious with life, but I have an amazingly blessed life and love.

Right now Gordon and I are going to Hungtington to a friend's sibling's grad party. We went to the same type of event last year. Ah how much has changed in a year.

Cake Tasting in the New Millenium!

Picture explanation: Bags A, B, and C are coconut frosting. The bags below are chocolate frosting. The little bag in the middle is coconut shaving. The bag under the yellow letter is the cake bits.

So as you probably know, my sister Meghan (savingintherain.com) is baking our cake. It's going to be a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting on the inner layers and coconut frosting on the outside with coconut shavings. Since she lives in Washington and won't be here before the wedding, she sent us "cake tasting in a bag". Can I just say, it looks delicious. The cake is soft and there are three different coconut frostings for us to try and three different chocolate frostings to try (ranging from milk chocolate to dark chocolate). This may be the best part of the wedding planning.

In other wedding planning news, the future MIL ordered some vines for the arbor we're getting married under and flowers and plants to put in this weekend at Jeff's house. I put down a deposit for the food and will be getting a rental memo about the dinnerware via email soon (I hope). This weekend or next we will hopefully put down our deposit for the tents and tables and chairs.

Also in planinning news (wow, a lot has been going on this week), I found out that the place I was look to get my hair and makeup done is faaaar too expensive. So my trusty and amazing wedding coordinator, code name Beanie, has been calling salons closer to the wedding site for prices and locations, so we can check them out in a few weeks. I'm hoping by making it more affordable, that more of my bridal party will go with me.

I am getting very excited about everything. I really hope it turns out to be the beautiful garden wedding it seems to be coming along as. And I am so grateful to the people who have been so helpful with money, time, and patience.

BMW

Here is the car we are looking into getting. I think Gordon falls in love with it the more he thinks about it. Plus I would get to learn to drive stick in a BMW

Mowing the lawn like Grandpa used to

Gordon is putting his manual mower to work today on the front lawn. It likes to bend the big pieces, but it works pretty well. And it cuts it short, which I like. Plus, it was only $100 and I most likely will never have to mow the lawn (though it would be a good workout). I'm enjoying sitting outside on my laptop watching him mow the lawn.

Today we looked at used cars for him. We went to see a 2005 Hyundai Sonata (manual, of course) and he ended up picking a 1999 BMW 3 series. We haven't bought it yet, but did put down a $100 deposit. It's got 150K miles, but it looked like it was in really good condition. Plus it's a very pretty blue. We're going to continue to look though and see if we find something better by next week.

Money Honey

So it doesn't look like we will be able to afford a second photographer, so I guess that's out. This weekend I think Gordon and I are going to look into getting him a new (used) car. His car is definitely on its way out. It's not the most ideal time, money wise, but when is it ever? However, this will mean I get to learn stick on a car that works!

Basically all our purchases are on hold except little things until after the wedding because our money is tied up. I wish deposits didn't exist and I could just pay for the wedding stuff now. We are inviting more people that I thought we would. I wish I could not think about my wedding in terms of money and think about it as the happiest day ever, which it will be.

We will have the rehearsal dinner the night before (9/17) and the bachelorette party the night before that (9/16)., this way Kelly can attend both.

We did clean and refill the hot tub so we can use it tonight. It's really nice out, I wish I was out there enjoying, but I will after 3pm.

I'm thinking about taking a week off this summer and doing something. I can't fly anywhere like I was considering, because I can't really spend money because we still have to pay off our honeymoon. I have 3 weeks vacation time (15 days) that I can start using after July 4. 6 days of it is going to the wedding and honeymoon. We get vacation time for Christmas and Thanksgiving, so I don't need to use it for that. Maybe I'll use some days in the summer and just extend my Christmas vacation. I don't know why I'm rambling about vacation time.

I hear a noise that sounds like my dryer at home, which I had one when I was leaving and so I just assumed that's what it was. Except, I'm not at home. I'm at work. It's still making the noise. Why is my dryer haunting me?

Tuxes... kind of.

So this is the morning suit that Gordon will be wearing. Except the shirt and tie will be more like the next one down. The next one down is what his groomsmen will be wearing. We put in the order yesterday, we just need to get the measurements done over the next month. They are both dark grey with the grey/blue stripped pants. Gordon will wear a silver tie and vest, the boys will wear purple or red vests and ties depending on whether they're a best man or groomsman.

Shoes!

This flower wedge and this flat are the shoes I think I want to buy for the wedding. The flower wedge would be used for the ceremony and the flat would be used for the reception. They are both very cute (and if they perform well, I will definitely wear them again!). I should order my shoes soonish, because I believe next month my wedding dress will come in and I need the shoes I'm going to wear with me so I can we the fittings perfect.

Now after speaking to a few people, I am going to look into other options. I am still considering the flower shoe but we're afraid that they might be too white for the dress. Ugh! It's just shoes, why can't this be easier. Everyone has opinions and they get in my head.

And speaking of fittings, I also need to get on getting my wedding underwear. I dont think underwear will be a problem so much as the bra area. That I need to purchase in person. But where do I go? I want something that is comfortable and doesn't make any unsightly bulges.

Update: My mom is a genius and thought about getting clear halter strap for the bra or corset I wear for the wedding! Go Mom!

Finally using my HGTV knowledge to work

I bought something to hide our modem and wireless router and put our phone on (since it has to attach to the modem, it's all in our dining room). I got it with gift cards from pier 1 and it was scratched all over the top (which is now the part on the floor) so I got 20% off and all I did was flip it over to the side where there was only 1 tiny scratch. Pretty genius, I thought.

Photography

I read an article on the knot today about wedding photography. Alex is our photographer. After reading more articles about photography for the wedding day, I wonder if we should splurge on an engagement session or a second photographer or both or none. I think because of how much I love photographs, we should go with a second photographer. It would provide two different view points. The engagement session is $350 and the second photographer is $600. $600 is a lot I feel like but I don't know. We are already probably spending some of our own money, but we are saving some money on other things. I don't know. It's a lot to think about. For now I'm going to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Pier 1 to down my anxiety in furniture shopping.

Never stopping

Getting stuff done!

Today I ordered the invitations (much more a process than originally anticipated), but I think we're going to be really happy with them. I talked to the future mother-in-law about the rehearsal dinner and it looks like we're going to Jeff's to drop off dresses and then to the Sayville Inn or something closer to Locust Valley for dinner. It's all getting pretty real. I really need to pay more deposits... stupid money

Life (and by life, I mean wedding) Updates

So I am really getting on top of things. I now have a guy who should have no problem providing portable restroom (some of you may know them as port-a-potties). Next on the menu is getting Gordon to rent a tux and getting his men to get there asses there too. We also have to consort with Elegant Eating to talk about what we need to rent from them dinnerware wise, since the tent rental company is providing the tables and chairs and table clothes. And now that we have our invitation sample, we need to work on the wording and ordering of the invitations.

133 days until the wedding. This is when it starts to fly by and I feel like I am always trying to get something done.

It would be worse if this was my 12th blog post

It's like the universe knows Lynne is freaked out by her connection to the number 12, and yet it makes not only her aware of it, but those around her as well. This is my mafia from Mafia Wars on Facebook (Thank you very much, Gordon, for making me addicting to this ridiculous and pointless game). I made Lynne sign up for it so I could access the Paris section and told her she would never have to play. And so where does she fall in my mafia? Well of course she is number 12.

I am planning on visiting the daring 12, I mean Lynne, in July. I look forward to delicious cheap food and driving randomly and sleeping on her floor.

Mother's Day

Mother's day is just around the corner and I am always wishing my mom lived closer. Kate is great (ha), but she's never going to be my mom. Sunday we're doing breakfast at Kateri's (soon to be sister-in-law's). I am reminded often that I am lucky to have a good relationship with my mom, and really lucky about how well Kate and I get along. She is very cool and I have to see her often for work and I enjoy every time.

In other news, tomorrow Gordon, Kristine, and I are going to see Iron Man 2. I think it's like Christmas to him.

Cock Valentine

Lynne took this picture at Jeff's house (where we are getting married). This is the name of his house... I guess. I never knew until now. I think that is hysterically awesome. We keep it classy.

It's really a beautiful place.

M&M craziness!

M&Ms!!!!

City Day

Spent the day in the city. Shopping, eating, being silly, and taking pictures in the m+m store. Lesson of the day: you cannot take a photobooth picture with 5 people and fit more than one face in the picture.

Reducing our carbon footprint!

Today we filled out the paperwork to apply for the Green Homes and Go Solar programs. The Green Homes program would use $7,000 in federal grants to help us make our home more Green with things like insulation and we would pay the remaining $3,000 over 5 years. It's a first come, first serve basis. The Go Solar program would install solar panels on our roof to reduce our energy bill and electricity consumption. It is a lottery, so we won't know til June. I think Gordon is more interested in the solar panels, and I think I am too. We'll see what happens. Either would be great.

Tomorrow I am going into the city with Kristine and Kristen so Kristine can interview at NBC (good luck, Kristine!) and Kristen and I can catch up with friends and shopping. I am excited to see my former coworkers and hopefully get some lunch at The Frying Pan. Then we will catch up with Roxie and Maria.

Summer for a day.

I love my tent guy! I think it's going to look really great. We have a plan for all the tables around the dance floor in the center under a tent with the buffet under the tent off the end of the main tent. I think Jeff's property is going to be beautiful for the wedding. Today we are going to stop by to pick up some plants he has for us and I will show Lynne the property. (She will be the first one to see it outside of me, Gordon, and his mom.

Last night our smoke alarm went off twice. Once at 4am and once at 5am. It goes off at every alarm in the house because they're all connected to the electricity. It is insanely loud and we have no idea what set it off. We know it was the one in our entry way because it was blinking red, but that's about all we know. Needless to say, we're all very tired.

Legs

Who brought these boys legs to my kitchen floor?