A day in the life, and catching up

It’s been too long! I wish I could write more consistently and cohesively about this time as we get closer to the wedding (8 weeks away! Next month!) but I’m here to pour out some quick thoughts in the form of 1) retelling things I’ve done today, and 2) catching up on whatever I can remember.

Here’s a picture I took of myself at my desk just now . . . it’s hard to fathom that, after 5 years of sitting here rambling, my computer work will be at this desk in this room for only 53 more days! We don’t have room for my current desk at the apartment, but my computer will become our shared desktop, tucked away on a smaller desk in the second bedroom/”study” (which I adore, along with everything else about the apartment).

Anyway – today! My alarm went off at 6:30 . . . I (*guilty cough*) snoozed to 6:38, feeling groggy after dreams . . . then got up, showered, dressed, and was off without breakfast to get my second round of bloodwork done at AFC, about 15 minutes away. I’m in the process of getting blood drawn every other day for over a week, to measure my hormone levels (but I got cholesterol checked today also, since the body makes hormones from cholesterol – hence the fasting). They took 5 vials the first time, but fortunately the rest of my visits should only exact one vial of my blood 😉 Once the desk nurses and I cleared up the fact that I didn’t need to pay a $50 co-pay each time (?!?) and that it was just a lab visit and all these things had been ordered by my NP (who coordinates with our Creighton FC Practitioner), things improved immensely. I have a feeling that I’ll be at least a mini-pro at losing blood by the time this is all over. They fortunately poked the other arm today, and I just have a small bruise. It makes me feel a little weird to watch my own blood gurgling away into the vial, so I usually just relax and don’t watch. It’s worked well so far. I’m really excited to finally have started this process of hopefully improving my health (especially looking towards a family), though! Marriage prep isn’t just about shopping for groom & groomsmen ties . . .

Okay! Moving on. Came home, had breakfast, started my laundry, and jumped into a few more wedding-related things. Our invitations have been out for over a week now, and RSVPs are steadily coming in through phone calls and our Minted website, but today I needed to address and send out three more – 2 were re-do’s, thanks to address errors that were my fault (definitely not the talented friend who addressed them beautifully!), and 1 was a new addition to the guest list. So I hauled the printer up to my computer, printed out more invitations, addressed the envelopes, stamped them and stuck them in the mail.

I also re-vamped my document containing all things related to wedding flowers: bouquets, nosegays, boutonnieres, etc. – how many of each need to be made, how they differ amongst members of the wedding party, how many roses we’ll order total, how many bunches of baby’s breath total, waterproof florist ribbon, floral wire and tape, etc. and then emailed it to our lovely wedding coordinator/flower arranger extraordinaire. It was one of those “not tiny but not huge” things that had been in the back of my mind for a few days. Now I feel much better to have gotten back on top of it! In wedding planning, everything is huge 😉 By the way, we’re ordering our flowers from Sam’s – best price to be found.

And while I was printing out the invitations, I also printed up our food flow diagrams. Reception food planning is heating up, and with the menu mostly in place, The Dash and I have spent a good chunk of time listing so many elements for that portion of the wedding day, researching prices, drawing out so many diagrams, even visiting a restaurant supply store (though there wasn’t too much in the way of helpfulness there – we had fun walking through the 40-degree refrigerated section of the warehouse, though). These diagrams illustrate where all the food serving tables are in our reception hall, how they’re set up, how many lines they can handle, and in what direction they flow, etc. Also, there’s a whole document just devoted to all the paper products/serving tools/trays/dishes we need to buy. Sam’s and/or Costco is the way to go (and Webstaurant for clear plastic plates that look fancier).

Apart from a few emails and lunch, that’s been the day so far.

To catch up on other things . . .

Speaking of groom/groomsmen ties (see the end of paragraph #3), for a long time we’d been trying to find a shade that matched the bridesmaids’ dresses. An increasingly difficult task. Finally, I pondered to The Dash, “What if the groomsmen just coordinated amongst themselves, with their own separate but coordinating color?” He was gallantly willing to give it a try. So we’re going for a light, muted, earthy gold kind of color (at least, that’s how it looks online, but you can never tell). They were on sale at Macy’s for $20 (regularly priced at $50) so we ordered enough for The Dash and all the groomsmen in case they work out . . . but boy, that’s a lot of ties and a lot of money, especially when we still have to return the $100-worth of failed test blue ties! I am very confident this color will look amazing, though. (Words Of An Optimist.) Fortunately Macy’s handles online order returns at any store!

We are on Novena #4 of our 9-Novena countdown to the wedding! I came across this idea in some Catholic article about engagement/wedding prep (I don’t exactly remember where . . . maybe Spoken Bride?) and it has been really special (and grace-filled) to pray novenas that have been special to us, or ones to patron saints that we’ve invoked across our relationship. We started with the Three Hail Marys Novena (which invokes Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom – one of our most special patrons! – and which we prayed leading up to our betrothal), then prayed a novena to St. Raphael (whose intercession certainly helped bring us together), then to Ss. Francisco and Jacinta Marto (we were able to venerate their relics early on during our courtship and have asked for the intercession), and now we’re praying the same novena to the Sacred Heart that we prayed at this time last year. Once we’ve finished our countdown, I’ll try to remember to post all the prayers specifically!

My mom and I went shopping last week and located a beautiful dress for her at Belk for the wedding. She had to order a different size than the only one in stock at the store, so we’re hoping it comes in without a problem 🙂

My beautiful, beautiful 2nd wedding veil finally came in and won my heart within the 30 seconds it took to open the package and try it on.

We booked our honeymoon car a few weeks ago (and saved some money through booking early, and more money by doing it through The Dash’s Costco membership), which is a felicitous reality, especially for The Dash, since what guy doesn’t look forward to having a like-new car to drive for a week?

This month is the month in which we’re going to start actually spending big chunks of the money we’ve budgeted and shifted around for so long (who’d have thought it?) 😉 It’s getting time to pay rent for the reception hall, purchase a bunch of paper products, etc., so we’re preparing for that.

We finalized our shot list with our wonderful photographer several weeks ago, so that’s all done!

I am so looking forward to my second bridal shower this Saturday!!! It’s such a fun thing to anticipate and really is one of the most sweet and special things about being a bride-to-be (in my opinion) 🙂 It is so humbling to be showered with love and prayers by one’s friends and community of women who have so much marital wisdom, and daughters who might go down the same path of marriage one day!

I moved over almost all my books to the apartment not too long ago, and will continue bringing over odds and ends across the next few weeks, in order to make the actual moving as simplistic as possible. Right now, I’m going to the apartment once a week while The Dash is at work (it’s worked well for me to drive in with my dad on his way to work, and have him kindly drop me off there) to sometimes cook, clean, organizing things, hang up things, and keep preparing as much as possible for when it does actually become home! It feels more and more like home with each visit, and I know that after this upcoming shower, there will be lots to do! It’s been great practice for me to see what it’s like to be there alone during the day (it remains relatively quiet and very safe!) and learn how to cook on the stovetop (every stovetop is different!).

Lacework on the bodice of the dress is being done by hand, so this was the most time-consuming stage of the alterations: accordingly, it’s been a while since I’ve had a fitting, but most likely next week I’ll go back, and at that point we should be nearly done with the sewing!

All right . . . I think that’s it for today!