The Beauty and the Mess

Very busy (and happy) day today, but I wanted to say Happy Wedding Day tomorrow to helenangel and poormattie. Helen, I am SO GLAD that you're marrying someone who knows and loves you for your wonderful, unique self. I pray you will have a very happy, blessed marriage! Love you!

YAY!

I'm just a little excited. :) This is a two-and-a-half day work week for me, and it's a good thing, because my powers of concentration are really limited.

Having looked fine for all five months of my engagement, my hair and skin are now rebelling, and my throat has been hurting since yesterday morning (along with everyone else's in Memphis, apparently). Attention sinuses: it is now TOO LATE to inflame. The window of opportunity has passed. Problems at this stage are NOT OKAY. Fall pollens are not an acceptable excuse. I've been taking vitamins, but would echinacea or other things (Rachael, I know you mentioned elderberry) make any difference at this point? Also, does anyone know any miracle skin cures? My tried and true baking soda isn't doing much for my awful chin. It's my own fault, since I slept in my makeup Friday night, totally forgetting to wash my face. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

So let's talk about this weekend! We had a blast Friday night. I painted a cute plate for us to hang up in the kitchen. We had a great Benihana dinner. When we were done eating, we went to the karaoke room and everyone was gone - they had just closed! My mom pleaded with them to let us do one song, so all of us got up together and sang "Man, I Feel Like A Woman!" LOL. Then we went back to the house and Debra gave me a very special present - she had gotten everyone to write down their favorite memories with me. Even my grandparents had contributed! It was one of the coolest presents ever. I've already read through it three or four times. :) Kathy and MaryElaine stayed to spend the night, so we watched The Prince & Me and worked on the wedding programs until our eyes were crossing. It was nice to spend time with them.

On Saturday we went to my co-worker's wedding. It was great, and we had a lot of fun hanging out with my other co-workers and their husbands. They all seemed to like Evan a lot. :) That took up most of the day. Yesterday, our Sunday school class gave us a congratulations/farewell brunch. It was so nice of them. They also presented us with our platter, an accent plate, and a rice bowl! We hadn't gotten any of those yet, so it was happy and unexpected. The rest of the day, I took care of little things while Evan was at work. It was my last day to relax at home, so I made the most of it.

Gandalf has been so bad for the past week or so. It's no wonder I'm so tired, because he's not letting me sleep. He comes into my room at night and meows this continuous, loud, whiny meow, immediately followed by him crashing into the window blinds and rattling them around. I chase him out and close the door. He comes back and scratches at the door till I let him back in. He behaves just long enough for me to fall asleep again, and then re-starts the cycle. He usually senses when a change is coming or when I'm about to go on a trip, so I guess he's angry. What am I supposed to do? This can't keep going on all week. I need rest.

Happy late birthday to Britt, Sara, and Carolyn!

I am very, VERY excited to welcome Em's husband, Daniel, to the LJ fold. :)

We're doing another data-checking project at work. It's boring and endless and I'm about to go nuts. I feel like a robot.

On Friday night I went to a fish fry and bonfire with Myla. It was with the group from my Thursday night Bible study. I hadn't talked to most of the people before, so it was nice to get to know some of them. Plus, Alli and Casey were there. Also, the unstable girl I mentioned last week. After she'd spent all of Thursday's study giving me icy glares, I was prepared for a showdown at the bonfire. First she ignored me, taking Alli aside to tell her that she was so mad at me and that "we aren't speaking." Several minutes later she walked up to me and began a normal conversation like nothing had happened. I will never, ever understand how her mind works. Anyway, other than that I had a fun social time.

I spent Saturday afternoon finishing the wedding invitations, and then Evan and I went to Robin and John's wedding. It was so beautiful! The wedding was in the rose garden at the Botanic Gardens, which is where I once dreamed of getting married. :) The reception room was set up beautifully and the food was great. I even got Evan to practice dancing a little. We did a good job of stepping on each other's feet. It's a good thing our lesson is tonight. :P

Sunday was the close of our missions conference at church. The keynote speaker was Richard Pratt, whom some of you may have heard of - he has several books out, including Pray With Your Eyes Open. He spoke on the passage in Isaiah about beautiful feet bringing the gospel to others. I'd like to post more about it later, because it was good. After church I felt totally lethargic and knew that if I didn't get a nap, I'd never make it through the day. So I went home and slept, then went back to church to help get ready for the Taste of Grace dinner. Taste of Grace is my favorite thing that we do all year. The Sunday School classes make different foods and there's a "contest" to see whose food is the best (my pastor is the only judge, so it's really not a contest). I can't think of any other time when everyone mixes and fellowships on such a large scale. I got to talk to admael and eat some catfish tacos. It was fun. I love my church.

Tash wrote a really insightful entry that was encouraging to me. Go read it. :)

I always enjoy naturallycurly.com. I was there looking at hairstyles and came across a hilarious article. Read and relate if you are curly-headed. Excerpt: Perhaps I shared my dream for long hair with a little too much pathetic fervor. It was like I was some kind of leukemia child. People could look at my split-ended, heat-fried frizzy head and their hearts cried for pity. "Someone grant her her wish!" was their benevolent impulse. Since all three of us kids have curly hair, and Evan's mom has curly hair (though she straightens it), I've realized my future kids are doomed. :) At least I'll know what to do with their curls, so they won't look freakish. They'll also probably be blond, which is weird to think about.

My best friend is getting married in three days. It hasn't sunk in yet. I am getting married in 130 days. I bought my wedding invitations today at a place called Xpedx that a friend told me about. I got 150 blank invitations and accessories for just over $100- why don't more people print their invites themselves? It's such an easy thing to save on. Anyway, they have a border of silver flowers, and unless Evan or my family hates them, I'll be printing them in a month or so. One more thing out of the way! Yay!

I had interesting things to discuss, but I have to work now. Thanks for all your support about the photography situation. I'll have updates later.

I can't think of an appropriate lead-in, so I'll just start talking.

( Long rundown of my weekend )

Now I'm tired of typing.

Happy Friday! A few pictures from Virginia are here.

( Registry and mushiness )

Last night was Kathy's unofficial bachelorette party, which came about because her sister refused to have the real one on the day Kathy wanted. So Kathy, MaryElaine, and I went downtown for a little "girl's night out." We went to TGI Friday's for dessert. I had the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake, my favorite dessert, which I haven't had in a year. It was amazing. Then we walked over to check out the Madison Hotel, where Kathy and Daniel will go for their wedding night. The Madison is quickly overtaking the Peabody as the cool place to stay in Memphis. We hung out in the lobby for a few minutes. It's somehow retro and modern at the same time, and there are very good photos of B.B. King et al. on the walls. Very nice. Anyway, it was cool to hang out with just Kathy and M.E. Tonight is the official party, and I have no idea what we're doing because Jamie's in charge. La la.

My family left today to drive to Miami. They will stay with our relatives for a couple of days, and then they'll all go on a 7-day cruise of the Caribbean and Mexico. I couldn't go because they come back into port on Kathy's wedding day. I'm sad to miss out on all the quality time, but it's okay. (I get to go to Jamaica! Have I mentioned that? :D) I do feel a little uneasy, though. I don't like my entire family being on the same trip.

There were other things, but now I can't remember. Oh well.

Here are some of my pictures from Emily's wedding! Evan took most of the ceremony ones, so send any compliments or complaints his way. :)

Last night Evan and I hung out with Casey and had a great time. As it sinks in more and more that we're really getting married, I worry more and more about finances. As usual, Casey had wise words to say on that topic. She reminded me that we'll be taking vows for richer or poorer, and that's a sign that money will always be an issue. If we had a lot of money, we'd still be struggling about how to spend it wisely. What's important is the marriage. I really needed to hear that. Also, after talking with her, we decided to scale down our honeymoon. We've really wanted to go to Hawaii, but with the rates I'm looking at, it would cost me half my savings. So we're reorganizing our priorities in order to afford more important things (more on that tomorrow!) and will probably just drive down to the Gulf Coast or something. I feel relieved now that we've made that decision.

Today I'm leaving work early and we're going with my parents to check out a nearby country club. My dad has heard nothing but good things about it. If all goes well, we'll go ahead and book it for the reception. We don't have time for hall-shopping or lists of pros and cons. :P I'm so thankful for my parents; they're being very generous. I am also thankful to the authors of Bridal Bargains, from whom I have already learned a lot.

I am still completely undecided on bridesmaid colors and flowers.

( I finally got this best friend generator to work! )

Oh, and happy birthday Jeremy! :D And happy fiscal new year to everyone else. Especially the accountants.

Time to check in with the LJ crew! Today has been a busy day so far, but for the moment I'm clear.

Weekend synopsis: Saw Prisoner of Azkaban with the gang. Maybe I'm not as in touch with the books as I used to be, but I really liked it. It's in an entirely different class from the other two movies, and the Trio actors have improved noticeably. The only big problem was the complete lack of explanation of the Moony & co. connection. That's a HUGE piece of the story, and I had to catch up the non-readers after the movie. Other than that, great job, Cuaron.

On Saturday I went to my boss's daughter's wedding. It was in a park and not like any other wedding I've been to. Since there was no other way to hide them, the bride and bridesmaids were brought to the area in a limo, and the groomsmen walked up to the limo one at a time to collect their bridesmaids. It was neat. The reception was fun and catered by our famous Corky's barbecue. I met a nice girl who works at Sweet Peppers, the new deli Danielle told me about awhile back. I hadn't heard it was open, so she told me where it was and our group went there for lunch after church yesterday. The verdict: I like it (I had the Peppers & Beef sandwich) and the tea is good, but it's not McAlister's. Of course, I was also influenced by the insanely large crowd. Crowds stress me out a little.

The rest of Sunday was wonderful. Evan and I had the whole day together, because- answer to prayer- his store just hired someone who likes to work Sundays. So now he only works one Sunday a month. Yay! :) It was an excessively mushy day with plenty of cartoon hearts. We got a little antsy in the afternoon, so we went to Target to get Friends Season 3. Yay again! Later we went back to church for the inaugural service of our new singles Bible study (I refuse to call it by its name because it's so cheesy). It was good, and we had a good-sized crowd for the first night. Casey showed up, which made me so happy since I'd just been thinking of her. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to El Porton and I had fried ice cream. A perfect ending to a perfect day. (Oh, and also I got to talk to admael for a while between services- I'd been hoping to run into her. :))

Now it's Monday and I'm overwhelmed by everything that's coming up. Especially in the way of gifts. I have a gift list a mile long right now- birthdays, weddings, Father's Day. Also I'm planning to get some new furniture when Kathy moves out (in only four weeks). Then I'll need money for the New Hampshire trip. All this money can come out of savings, but it's going to be a big hit. I don't have to get the furniture right away, but I want to. So I have no right to complain. :P I'm just excited about re-nesting and having things my own way.

Hope everyone's having a good day!

Hey everyone. Just checking in to let you know I'm not dead or otherwise injured. :) I haven't kept up with friends entries since Friday morning, so if something really important has happened, let me know. I doubt I'll be able to catch up. Over the last few days, since I made the decision to back off from LJ, I've been realizing how much I needed to do that. The article that Heather linked to last week totally changed my perspective. Gosh, I don't want to be like those people. At the same time, I feel like Harriet the Spy after her notebook was taken away. My thoughts don't flow as easily if I know I'll never get to write them down. So here I am.

It was a productive weekend. I saw The Day After Tomorrow with Evan and my dad, successfully co-threw Emily's bridal shower, went to the lake with MaryElaine and Kathy, was fitted several times for my bridesmaid dress for Em's wedding, went to the Sunset Symphony, and went to two Memorial Day cookouts. I spent most of yesterday afternoon helping address Kathy's wedding invitations, which could have been pleasant if Daniel's many aunts hadn't spent the whole time picking the guest list apart and complaining to Kathy that all her names and addresses were wrong. I finished my stack of envelopes in a hurry because I was close to tearing hair out (my own or someone else's). When it's my turn, elopement is looking better and better. :P I comforted myself afterwards by laying in the sun with Debra and then going to the Circuit City sale (all CDs were $9.99) and getting the new Hanson and the new Avril Lavigne. Happy happy.

On Sunday night we had some bad storms and Evan got to see me in Full Weather Mode for the first time. When I saw the storms approaching, I batteried up the weather radio, got my flashlight, put my shoes on and set the cat carrier by the front door. We then resumed our normal business and watched Gandalf for signs. As soon as he streaked into my room and under the bed, I sounded the "Cat under the bed" call and we all regrouped in the living room. The sirens were going off even though we had no tornadoes in our area (Jessica, I almost called you so you could hear them). While Kathy and I were pacing nervously, Evan and Daniel were sitting bored on the couch. Evan kept saying, "It's just wind and rain." I have a feeling we will never understand each other until he has a tree crash into his apartment building and a ton of roofing deposited in his front yard. Once that happens, you're never the same. Anyway, he has now seen the meteorologist within and still loves me, so that's a good thing. :)

Enough writing for today.

Hello all.

My weekend was good and productive. On Friday night I went to Daniel's graduation, then saw Troy with Evan and his friend Chris. I see that most people on the friends list hated it with a passion. Neither Evan nor I have read the Iliad (I know, shame on us), and we thought the movie was excellent. Something must be terribly wrong with us. :P I spent Saturday morning making bridal shower invitations with Jamie, then went to Daniel's graduation party, and then to my parents' to hang out for a while. Sunday was a good day. Our Sunday School teacher, inspired by last week's events in Iraq, has decided to teach on Islam for the next few weeks so we can all gain a better understanding of it. I think it's a great idea and am pumped for next week. After church there was a Musician's Luncheon for everyone involved in the music ministry and their families. I brought Evan and my sister. Ryan came too, because he's talking about taking up the French horn again. I hope he really does join. It would be fun to be in band together!

In the afternoon, Evan went to work, and Debs, Ryan, and I went swimming at Ryan's apartment complex. All our RUF-type friends had just returned from summer conference looking tan and rested, making me feel washed-out in comparison. I wasn't feeling quite right all last week, and the tiredness and general malaise kind of peaked yesterday. So an afternoon at the pool was just what I needed. Now I'm refreshed, have a little color and feel that my summer has officially begun. Around 6 it started raining again, so I went home, and Kathy and I worked on Emily's bridal shower invitations. Thus endeth the Shower Invitations Phase. One down, fifteen more to go. :P :)

With the constant rain, the humidity around here is absolutely unreal. I had to braid my hair several times last week, because there's nothing else I can do with hair three times its normal volume. I look like Monica in the Barbados episode. It's so frustrating.

Would someone please buy me a plane ticket to Florida?