So, with my upcoming nuptials, Eric and I will be combining households and selling/renting one of our houses. Being that his is nearly twice the size of mine (not to mention the much better location to work, etc.), mine will be going up on the auction block (not literally, of course). I bought it brand new and think I have taken pretty good care of it. But there's always room for improvement.
The first improvement started today. Tiling the master bathroom. Ultimately, we will also put a new counter top in, new light fixture, and new toilet. but today we just started the floor, and we only got as far as cutting all the tile and laying it out. So there's lots more to do.
In the meantime, I am without my master bath. And it killed my morning routine! I never realized a different bathroom can mess things up so much! It's one thing to be traveling and only have you travel HBC stuff... but I'm in my own house with all my stuff, but can't grasp the concept of the toothbrush being on a different corner of the sink or the shampoo in the other end of the shower. Crazy! Just as I get used to it, though, I'll probably move back to my bathroom. I guess I should just be thankful to have the 2nd bathroom!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Weekend of Wedding Planning
This was a very productive wedding in terms of wedding planning. In fact, I'm quite proud of myself, and Eric!
After a brainstorm on Friday night, deciding on what to do and when, we tackled Saturday with full steam. Well, kind of... it was a little earlier than I would've liked, but I managed to hold my own. First up, we started with creating our registries. First up, Macy's! And I quickly learned why we brainstormed on our wish list the night before... because if you don't, you could be in there forever looking at things! We spent a good hour-and-a-half in the home goods looking around. One advantage to waiting to get married... between the two of you, you have all the basics! Granted, there still quite a bit out there that would be useful... but I digress. One thing I can say to other bride-to-be's out there... Macy's takes care of you when you register! I was quite surprised!
After Macy's, we hopped across the parking lot to Target (for those in the Indy Area, we made it easy on ourselves and just went to Glendale Town Center to do this). We spent another good two hours here. Seriously... SO glad we made a list the night before! Unfortunately, since the Glendale Target isn't a SuperTarget, we'll have to add more later. But actually, we'll probably have to hit both stores more later. You can't get it all in one trip.
After getting our registries set up, it was time to go suit shopping for Eric. He had been looking already and decided he wanted to buy a nice suit he could wear again. This works well since we're doing a more casual wedding - no tuxes! So we got everything picked out and bought except for the shoes - he can do that later! I meant to take a picture of all of it together, but I forgot to before I left. So maybe I'll post it later - he's going to look sharp! None the less, another thing checked off the list!
Finally, we settled back at the house to try to finalize invitations. At least get the wording drafted and narrow down our selection. Which we did. I'll probably order them tomorrow so we have plenty of time to get them! And after that. we got everything ready to send to the videographer. Another thing checked off! Yay! And lastly, since we're getting married in FL (but still want to celebrate with our friends), we picked our date for our Indy receptions. July 31st, 2010 at 5pm!! So save the date!
On Sunday, it was to be a Bride's day! I met up with Wendy and we went to a bridal show. It was a smaller one - we got through it in less than 2 hours! but it worked well for me to get some idea for the Indy reception. We have NO clue on that yet. Well, I don't. I think Eric has a few ideas on a wish list. We'll see. That's now right in line to be planned as well!
Finally, for those out there that haven't caught wind of it, we DO have a wedding website set up. Please check it out - it's ever changing as we get our details finalized! It'll be the best place to get the latest and greatest!
After a brainstorm on Friday night, deciding on what to do and when, we tackled Saturday with full steam. Well, kind of... it was a little earlier than I would've liked, but I managed to hold my own. First up, we started with creating our registries. First up, Macy's! And I quickly learned why we brainstormed on our wish list the night before... because if you don't, you could be in there forever looking at things! We spent a good hour-and-a-half in the home goods looking around. One advantage to waiting to get married... between the two of you, you have all the basics! Granted, there still quite a bit out there that would be useful... but I digress. One thing I can say to other bride-to-be's out there... Macy's takes care of you when you register! I was quite surprised!
After Macy's, we hopped across the parking lot to Target (for those in the Indy Area, we made it easy on ourselves and just went to Glendale Town Center to do this). We spent another good two hours here. Seriously... SO glad we made a list the night before! Unfortunately, since the Glendale Target isn't a SuperTarget, we'll have to add more later. But actually, we'll probably have to hit both stores more later. You can't get it all in one trip.
After getting our registries set up, it was time to go suit shopping for Eric. He had been looking already and decided he wanted to buy a nice suit he could wear again. This works well since we're doing a more casual wedding - no tuxes! So we got everything picked out and bought except for the shoes - he can do that later! I meant to take a picture of all of it together, but I forgot to before I left. So maybe I'll post it later - he's going to look sharp! None the less, another thing checked off the list!
Finally, we settled back at the house to try to finalize invitations. At least get the wording drafted and narrow down our selection. Which we did. I'll probably order them tomorrow so we have plenty of time to get them! And after that. we got everything ready to send to the videographer. Another thing checked off! Yay! And lastly, since we're getting married in FL (but still want to celebrate with our friends), we picked our date for our Indy receptions. July 31st, 2010 at 5pm!! So save the date!
On Sunday, it was to be a Bride's day! I met up with Wendy and we went to a bridal show. It was a smaller one - we got through it in less than 2 hours! but it worked well for me to get some idea for the Indy reception. We have NO clue on that yet. Well, I don't. I think Eric has a few ideas on a wish list. We'll see. That's now right in line to be planned as well!
Finally, for those out there that haven't caught wind of it, we DO have a wedding website set up. Please check it out - it's ever changing as we get our details finalized! It'll be the best place to get the latest and greatest!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Snow, Snow, and More Snow!
It seems every time I think the snow is done and I'll be able to start seeing grass soon, it snows again. The whole process of shovelling the driveway starts over and the grass is that much more buried. At this rate, I don't think it'll melt before spring!
There's all sorts of facts and statistics being dropped this winter, too! We're currently on track to have the snowiest February in history, as well as break into the top 10 snowiest winters on record for Indianapolis. Last weekend was the first known time that there was snow on the ground in all 50 states, including Florida and Hawaii! I thought we were having global warming issues??
Regardless, I'll be shovelling my driveway, yet again this evening. I shovelled last night and it was still coming down when I left this morning. Won't be as much to shovel as last night, but it still requires me to 'suit up' and do physical labor in below freezing temperatures.
Not that it matters... our street in one big sheet of compacted snow - it doesn't matter how many times the plow comes through... it's not going anywhere. It was starting to slush-up and melt over the weekend... but alas, more snow came. So it is, once again, a sea of white over my neighborhood. You can tell where the driveways are based solely off the mounds of snow on either side of a seemingly low lying snowed over area that leads to a garage. Good times.
I miss the color green.
I guess I can't complain too much. At least as not as much as those to the east of me, especially down around DC. But I'm willing to bet they will have the melting process begin long before here... so their piles of snow will probably disappear before ours disappear. Especially if we keep getting hit the way we do!
But I guess I need to take it all in and enjoy what I can...my last suburbs' winter for awhile. I've said it before... I much more enjoy the vast open areas of white verses the dirty plowed-up piles found downtown. I also love the silence. Can't get that downtown either. There's something so peaceful about walking outside after a fresh snow and not hearing a sound. Once the clouds clear, the stars are brighter than ever, the sky is crystal clear, and any sounds that you might hear at other times get muffled by the snow, giving this unbelievable silence I never knew existed. I always take a deep breath of the cold air and enjoy the moment as I look around at how bright everything is... even though the sun has set hours ago. But even during the day, there's something about the joy heard from the neighbor's kids playing in the snow... without a care in the world. Yeah... I'm going to really miss that about winter in the suburbs.
There's all sorts of facts and statistics being dropped this winter, too! We're currently on track to have the snowiest February in history, as well as break into the top 10 snowiest winters on record for Indianapolis. Last weekend was the first known time that there was snow on the ground in all 50 states, including Florida and Hawaii! I thought we were having global warming issues??
Regardless, I'll be shovelling my driveway, yet again this evening. I shovelled last night and it was still coming down when I left this morning. Won't be as much to shovel as last night, but it still requires me to 'suit up' and do physical labor in below freezing temperatures.
Not that it matters... our street in one big sheet of compacted snow - it doesn't matter how many times the plow comes through... it's not going anywhere. It was starting to slush-up and melt over the weekend... but alas, more snow came. So it is, once again, a sea of white over my neighborhood. You can tell where the driveways are based solely off the mounds of snow on either side of a seemingly low lying snowed over area that leads to a garage. Good times.I miss the color green.
I guess I can't complain too much. At least as not as much as those to the east of me, especially down around DC. But I'm willing to bet they will have the melting process begin long before here... so their piles of snow will probably disappear before ours disappear. Especially if we keep getting hit the way we do!
But I guess I need to take it all in and enjoy what I can...my last suburbs' winter for awhile. I've said it before... I much more enjoy the vast open areas of white verses the dirty plowed-up piles found downtown. I also love the silence. Can't get that downtown either. There's something so peaceful about walking outside after a fresh snow and not hearing a sound. Once the clouds clear, the stars are brighter than ever, the sky is crystal clear, and any sounds that you might hear at other times get muffled by the snow, giving this unbelievable silence I never knew existed. I always take a deep breath of the cold air and enjoy the moment as I look around at how bright everything is... even though the sun has set hours ago. But even during the day, there's something about the joy heard from the neighbor's kids playing in the snow... without a care in the world. Yeah... I'm going to really miss that about winter in the suburbs.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day. Most either love it or hate it. Personally, I've always loved it because it gives me a 'real' reason to go above and beyond for my sweetie. So it's not really the commercialization I'm drawn to, but what the day actually symbolizes... even if it IS a Hallmark holiday!
With Valentine's Day being on a Sunday this year, Eric and I ended up with two special dinners, though that wasn't planned. Last year, we started a tradition of cooking a nice dinner together for Valentine's dinner. And though we planned that again this year, I ended up amping up the dinner the evening before, as well. It was just spaghetti, which takes minimal effort, so I took the extra effort to add some special details to make it a nice, romantic dinner. And he appreciated it a lot.
But tonight was the real meal. A local butcher shop, Goose the Market, had a Valentine's Day dinner special available - a surf 'n' turf meal for two. Eric found it on their website (he LOVES this place - it where we get all of our holiday meats) and asked if it sounded good. So that's what we were to cook together. Though we didn't end up doing too much of it together - he had most of it going when I arrived. Regardless, though, it was good and, as usual, the Goose provided an excellent start to a meal!
Hopefully next year we'll do better with the cooking it together - that's half the fun of the meal and the tradition. But it worked out fine this year since we ended up with two special meals. Not that we need a reason to make it a special meal, but great way to assure we spend time together, just the two of us.
With Valentine's Day being on a Sunday this year, Eric and I ended up with two special dinners, though that wasn't planned. Last year, we started a tradition of cooking a nice dinner together for Valentine's dinner. And though we planned that again this year, I ended up amping up the dinner the evening before, as well. It was just spaghetti, which takes minimal effort, so I took the extra effort to add some special details to make it a nice, romantic dinner. And he appreciated it a lot.
But tonight was the real meal. A local butcher shop, Goose the Market, had a Valentine's Day dinner special available - a surf 'n' turf meal for two. Eric found it on their website (he LOVES this place - it where we get all of our holiday meats) and asked if it sounded good. So that's what we were to cook together. Though we didn't end up doing too much of it together - he had most of it going when I arrived. Regardless, though, it was good and, as usual, the Goose provided an excellent start to a meal!
Hopefully next year we'll do better with the cooking it together - that's half the fun of the meal and the tradition. But it worked out fine this year since we ended up with two special meals. Not that we need a reason to make it a special meal, but great way to assure we spend time together, just the two of us.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
It's the Little Things
So in recent days, I realized that what I thought was the hard part of the wedding planning (the venue, the dress, etc.) is actually the easy part! What's hard is all the little things (relatively)... the invitations, the favors, the flowers, etc.
Eric and I started looking at all the 'little things' this past week. There are just so many options... which is what makes it hard! Then to top it off, I have one idea, and Eric has a completely different idea of what level of 'formality' we should go with. And don't get me started on color/theme! That's a whole other problem, especially when it comes to flowers! Though I think a lot of that my be my fault... turning it into something more difficult than it should be.
But I can say one thing. I have the rare fiance who, as the groom, actually wants to be very involved in the planning. He doesn't just want to 'show up' and that be his part. My only complaint is his prioritizing of things. But I guess it all needs to be done, regardless!
Eric and I started looking at all the 'little things' this past week. There are just so many options... which is what makes it hard! Then to top it off, I have one idea, and Eric has a completely different idea of what level of 'formality' we should go with. And don't get me started on color/theme! That's a whole other problem, especially when it comes to flowers! Though I think a lot of that my be my fault... turning it into something more difficult than it should be.
But I can say one thing. I have the rare fiance who, as the groom, actually wants to be very involved in the planning. He doesn't just want to 'show up' and that be his part. My only complaint is his prioritizing of things. But I guess it all needs to be done, regardless!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I Feel Like Such a Bi***
Ever have one of those moments where you feel like a complete jacka** for doing something, even if you didn't mean to have the outcome the way it was? Yeah... I had one of those this morning.
There has been this car parked across from the end of my driveway for MONTHS! That is no exaggeration... it has not moved! I didn't take it for being abandoned because it was still legally tagged. I thought it was the lady's son whose been staying with her who's diagonally across the street from me. But she scares me - I've witnessed numerous 'domestic disputes' in her front yard with her adult children. I didn't want to have any sort of confrontation with her.
So I started with contacting our HOA management company. Come to find out that our streets were, indeed, dedicated to Fishers, therefore, Town of Fishers ordinances dictate what goes on within the right of way. But they did send me some of their own knowledge from their research quest on street parking. Come to find out that the Town considered a car abandoned after three days, regardless if it has legal tags still. PLUS (double whammy), it's illegal to park across from the end of the driveway!
So today I called the police department to report the 'parking violation' and hopefully not have to worry about backing into this car anymore. Especially with the snow covered streets we have right now - the plow has just been going around this vehicle and decreasing the travel lane even more! It was easy enough and I didn't think much else of it. Until the officer called me a little while later.
He was nice enough and stated that he was not able to get a hold of the owner for two reasons. Then he proceeded to tell me those reasons... firstly, no one was home in the house it belonged to. But the slap in the face... the son (the owner of the car) had died last month and his mother was still trying to sort through things. This is the point I started feeling like sh**! Granted, the car has been there and not moved since late summer/early fall last year... but that's probably because he'd been sick and/or not able to drive.
So while I feel I was in within my rights to report it, I feel like I just screwed my karma up for awhile. I'll be looking over my shoulder... karma always seems to kick you in the butt at the worst possible time.
There has been this car parked across from the end of my driveway for MONTHS! That is no exaggeration... it has not moved! I didn't take it for being abandoned because it was still legally tagged. I thought it was the lady's son whose been staying with her who's diagonally across the street from me. But she scares me - I've witnessed numerous 'domestic disputes' in her front yard with her adult children. I didn't want to have any sort of confrontation with her.
So I started with contacting our HOA management company. Come to find out that our streets were, indeed, dedicated to Fishers, therefore, Town of Fishers ordinances dictate what goes on within the right of way. But they did send me some of their own knowledge from their research quest on street parking. Come to find out that the Town considered a car abandoned after three days, regardless if it has legal tags still. PLUS (double whammy), it's illegal to park across from the end of the driveway!
So today I called the police department to report the 'parking violation' and hopefully not have to worry about backing into this car anymore. Especially with the snow covered streets we have right now - the plow has just been going around this vehicle and decreasing the travel lane even more! It was easy enough and I didn't think much else of it. Until the officer called me a little while later.
He was nice enough and stated that he was not able to get a hold of the owner for two reasons. Then he proceeded to tell me those reasons... firstly, no one was home in the house it belonged to. But the slap in the face... the son (the owner of the car) had died last month and his mother was still trying to sort through things. This is the point I started feeling like sh**! Granted, the car has been there and not moved since late summer/early fall last year... but that's probably because he'd been sick and/or not able to drive.
So while I feel I was in within my rights to report it, I feel like I just screwed my karma up for awhile. I'll be looking over my shoulder... karma always seems to kick you in the butt at the worst possible time.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Shopping and Football
Another productive weekend!! Well, at least on my end.
Saturday, Wendy and I went dress shopping! Wendy got her selection narrowed down last weekend. but I was just beginning! When I walked into the first place, I was totally overwhelmed! Not sure what I was expecting... in fact, didn't know WHAT to expect! But they were very nice and explained how it worked, and I was on my way. I didn't know what I liked, what would look good on me, and only had a vague idea of what my options were. But I managed to find five dresses that would help me in my quest. I figured if nothing else, I'd figure out what I liked and didn't like!
After the first place, I started gearing up for a long day. I just wasn't thrilled with any of them, so I figured I my desires were already too specific. I had done some browsing online, but later I figured out a lot of what I was looking at were last year's trends/dresses... the 2010 dresses had come out since I bookmarked a few of the things I liked! (I can't go into specifics about what I wanted/liked on here due to the risk of Eric reading about it) None the less, I had some time to 'kill' before my next actual appointment, so we made an unscheduled stop at another store. I had much better luck here. Found more dresses than I had tags to try on that I liked, so it turned out to be a worthwhile stop! Even found one like I had seen online... in my online quest, it wasn't one of my favorites, but I was blown away when I put it on. This is why you have to see things on yourself and not trust the waif models online! But we continued on - I still had another actual appointment to get to!
The last place is where Wendy *thinks* she found her dress the previous weekend. And I found even more dresses here to try on than the last place, bringing my total to at least 20 dresses, if not more! Plus, some of these I had seen online, as well, including one of my favorites online. So we spent a good two hours trying on dresses here. Some of the dresses were easy to rule out - they weren't good for a beach wedding. But then there were others... Wendy and I found ourselves comparing them to THAT dress at the other store.
So Saturday night, I narrowed it down to my top 5 to get input from my mom and sister. I tried sending picture messages for dresses, but you just can't get the right light. So I uploaded the top 5 to one of my picture websites (we took lots of pictures of ALL the dresses along the way). I spent a half-hour discussing it with my mom and another 15 minutes with my sister. The consensus was clear... the one dresses that wowed me at the second store was it!
So Sunday morning I spent waiting for the store to open - it didn't open until 1pm! I shoveled the driveway in the meantime, which had become of little icy from the previous show that I wasn't home for (because I was dress shopping!). Finally, I went to buy it. Yep... one weekend, and I found THE dress and bought it. I'm so excited! Now I just have to get it altered, which is mainly just going to be a bit of a hem and a bustle. I've got four months to get all that done. And of course, I must accessorize, including the veil and such. So, by no means is the shopping done, but this is the major portion!
After all the excitement of the dress shopping (and buying!), it was time to watch the Super Bowl... Super Bowl XLIV, Saints and Colts! Everyone in this town seemed to think it was a sure win for the Colts, but I had a feeling it would be closer than they thought it would. And I was right. I didn't expect the Saints to win by the margin they did, but then, they were a Cinderella team of sorts. So it wasn't a bad thing - they deserved it and the City of New Orleans needed it. I can only imagine what Fat Tuesday will be like this week!
Saturday, Wendy and I went dress shopping! Wendy got her selection narrowed down last weekend. but I was just beginning! When I walked into the first place, I was totally overwhelmed! Not sure what I was expecting... in fact, didn't know WHAT to expect! But they were very nice and explained how it worked, and I was on my way. I didn't know what I liked, what would look good on me, and only had a vague idea of what my options were. But I managed to find five dresses that would help me in my quest. I figured if nothing else, I'd figure out what I liked and didn't like!
After the first place, I started gearing up for a long day. I just wasn't thrilled with any of them, so I figured I my desires were already too specific. I had done some browsing online, but later I figured out a lot of what I was looking at were last year's trends/dresses... the 2010 dresses had come out since I bookmarked a few of the things I liked! (I can't go into specifics about what I wanted/liked on here due to the risk of Eric reading about it) None the less, I had some time to 'kill' before my next actual appointment, so we made an unscheduled stop at another store. I had much better luck here. Found more dresses than I had tags to try on that I liked, so it turned out to be a worthwhile stop! Even found one like I had seen online... in my online quest, it wasn't one of my favorites, but I was blown away when I put it on. This is why you have to see things on yourself and not trust the waif models online! But we continued on - I still had another actual appointment to get to!
The last place is where Wendy *thinks* she found her dress the previous weekend. And I found even more dresses here to try on than the last place, bringing my total to at least 20 dresses, if not more! Plus, some of these I had seen online, as well, including one of my favorites online. So we spent a good two hours trying on dresses here. Some of the dresses were easy to rule out - they weren't good for a beach wedding. But then there were others... Wendy and I found ourselves comparing them to THAT dress at the other store.
So Saturday night, I narrowed it down to my top 5 to get input from my mom and sister. I tried sending picture messages for dresses, but you just can't get the right light. So I uploaded the top 5 to one of my picture websites (we took lots of pictures of ALL the dresses along the way). I spent a half-hour discussing it with my mom and another 15 minutes with my sister. The consensus was clear... the one dresses that wowed me at the second store was it!
So Sunday morning I spent waiting for the store to open - it didn't open until 1pm! I shoveled the driveway in the meantime, which had become of little icy from the previous show that I wasn't home for (because I was dress shopping!). Finally, I went to buy it. Yep... one weekend, and I found THE dress and bought it. I'm so excited! Now I just have to get it altered, which is mainly just going to be a bit of a hem and a bustle. I've got four months to get all that done. And of course, I must accessorize, including the veil and such. So, by no means is the shopping done, but this is the major portion!
After all the excitement of the dress shopping (and buying!), it was time to watch the Super Bowl... Super Bowl XLIV, Saints and Colts! Everyone in this town seemed to think it was a sure win for the Colts, but I had a feeling it would be closer than they thought it would. And I was right. I didn't expect the Saints to win by the margin they did, but then, they were a Cinderella team of sorts. So it wasn't a bad thing - they deserved it and the City of New Orleans needed it. I can only imagine what Fat Tuesday will be like this week!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Confirmation!
YAY! We got confirmation on our date and location today! And it's what we wanted, which is the best part - no compromise on the date and location. I get to be a June bride on the beach!
We're keeping it really small and intimate - family only type small! It'll be really simple, which makes things a little easier with such a short time to plan. But having the location nailed down is the biggest piece since we're doing everything in one location (none of that crazy driving around!).
More details to come later!
We're keeping it really small and intimate - family only type small! It'll be really simple, which makes things a little easier with such a short time to plan. But having the location nailed down is the biggest piece since we're doing everything in one location (none of that crazy driving around!).
More details to come later!
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