My bridesmaid Sara got engaged woo hoo! My friend for about 8 years more or less,  was asked to be a wifey last week! Her and her fiance were together 5 years and he popped the question on their anniversary. She is the cutest, I kept asking her what did he say questions, and she said she couldn’t remember anything word for word because she was so overwhelmed and probably bubbling over with happiness. She said it was all the right sweet stuff and that she got a little teary. At least I think that is what she said I was overjoyed when she was telling me so I can’t remember exactly either! My other two friends who recently got married are seriously experts on the subject of wedding planning, so I know she can rely on us for any help or advice if she needs it. Sara and her fiance have set their engagement time for a little under a year so she is going to be starting her planning very soon. She has to bask in her engagement glory for a little while, she must enjoy it. You know what added plus I get out of her getting engaged? New excitement for my wedding, I still get in the wedding planning funk like every other day so when I remember the first thoughts of getting married I get re-energized with wedding planning energy. So thank you Sara for getting me excited again!

Congrats Sara and Derek! 

Yesterday I was chatting with my newlywed friend about my wedding planning progress and she said to me, “Your over this wedding stuff aren’t you?” and I said “yeah” and made a stink face. Then I thought to myself this can’t be good. It is about 6 moths away from the wedding and I am over it? Is this what happens when you have a two year engagement and the excitement flows then dries up over and over? So today I looked at my planning checklists and checked off some tasks that I have completed. I have around 3 of them so I can act like I have done more planning then I really have because I check off some of the same things. I swear it is a psychological way of tricking myself. Anyway I looked at some wedding porn online for inspiration and I felt a little better about my negative attitude toward wedding planning and I just need to give it another chance. I know when the wedding day comes I will wish I thought more things out or put more effort into something. So here are some positive thought inducing images.

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So my significant other and I have decided on a honeymoon destination. It will be Barcelona, Spain. It really has a lot to do with a couple different factors. Greece was my pick, Scotland was his pick and we both agreed on Spain from the get go. We would both be more then satisfied going to Spain instead of feeling like one of us compromised our decision in going to one of the other places. 

The travel channel always inspires us to go to certain destinations like Paris, London and Munich. It is that damn Anthony Bourdain and Samantha Brown and all their great adventures, maybe a little of Andrew Zimmern too. My future in laws vacationed in Spain this past September and they loved it. They brought us lots of little souvenirs and stories of the beauty of Spain and how the food was so good. There is just something about a little cafe in Europe that us Americans find so romantic and intriguing at least that is my opinion. So anyway we are looking forward to something a little different then our usual vacation itinerary. 

What are we planning? Something different then what we usually do. We want to go have a few days in a little town or village. We always stay near the big cities and bustling touristy neighborhoods and this time we want to see a little more of the country. This is a big one for me because I have to see the sights and go do what the books recommend. I will do this of course but I have a new found feeling of wanting to take a drive to the country or something. It is kind of weird, it may be because I am getting older, yeah that may be it. 

Anyway, now my significant other and I don’t have to keep an eye out of cool places to go for a honeymoon now we will just have to plan it. Not yet though so is that a check or a half check off the list. Hmm…

Update: A few hours after writing this post I got to see the Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow in an episode of their Spain on the road again series. I think it pretty much sealed the deal. Check out their website!

www.spainontheroadagain.com

I have some updates with my wedding, well basically new things are happening and also wedding stuff. One is I turned 28, yay for being older! The next is that I quit smoking, it has been 6 days! My days are hard! Thank god for the patch!! Another would be I received my paper lanterns, 80 of them. I ordered two different lantern sizes, sixty 12″ lanterns and twenty 14″ lanterns, all white. Now I am on the look out for LED throwies. They are little LED colored lights that you can rig on the lantern wires to light them up. They have been around a lot in music videos and things like that they are called throwies because they have little magnets on them that stick to things and people use them for graffiti-esque letters on the wall without actually painting on the wall. I have no idea how I will manage to get those done but they will some day.

Today I had to swing by to Nordstrom to check out their half yearly sale and try to use my gift cards from my birthday. I found some cute jeans too! I also randomly looked at some ties for men and found some on sale. The ties on sale were very weddingish and I found my color purple in the rainbow of ties and swiped them up. I was in disbelief that this was happening. I never get those cool circumstances where you find something you have been wishing to find and they are on sale. There were only three of them so I asked the sales person if there were more around and they ordered them from other stores for me and will be sent to me by mail. Yes! So I have three now and four more on the way! Yay!

Another birthday gift I received was a spa gift card. I have never been to a spa and have always wanted to go. I want to go and get a facial since I never had one before. I have visions of all the impure things I have done in my life being extracted from my pores. Then after my facial I will be cleansed from all my dirty deeds and bad habits. Hah! I doubt that would happen but I can imagine it still though right? Right.  

Also I have ordered a custom head piece fascinator thing for my wedding from Etsy and am excited! Then I can make my hair and make-up preview! Woo!

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It is about time America voted for the right president. I am filled with hope about the future and where our new president will take us. I have a renewed pride in my country and I am sure the world view on America has changed even if it is just a little bit. Have you ever been to a different country and tell someone where your from and they turn around and stop talking to you? I have, and yeah it is kind of silly because we are all individuals, but that is how a lot of people feel about America and hopefully that kind of attitude is changing. 

Yesterday was fantastic to witness the first African American president elected, and I don’t know if I ever really expected to see that. I had hoped one day it would happen but after feeling disappointment about your political system, seeing Bush fumble on his words, act a fool, a shill, see him re-elected and see your economy go to crap, a new hope is a refreshing feeling. Hope and change aren’t feelings I have connected to my country in a really long time, until I heard Barack Obama speak and listened to his views and plans and then see him become president. I am not amazed he won, but I am slightly amazed that people would think McCain and Palin would do a better job. I am amazed at the people that didn’t take the time to vote on the most important election in history. I am beyond happy about the future and like I said renewed with hope and charged up for what’s in store for us under Obama’s presidency. 

On a sad note California’s prop 8 passed. It will not be the end of this fight for human rights for the gay community. To the Christian fundamentalist and Mormans that heavily funded this prop, you won this time, but this fight is not over. 

Side note: anyone else get annoyed at the little blonde lady that was in front of Jesse Jackson on last nights news coverage? Then I had to look at her looking at herself in the camera while standing next to Oprah. Jeez someone should have told her to move! Annoying lady, I didn’t turn on the news to see your face.

Tomorrow is the big day!!! Heres hoping for the voters to do the right thing and vote for what is fair and right. After past election let downs let tomorrow be different let us have CHANGE!!! I’m crossing my fingers.

Yes, that is correct, bridesmaid dresses have been selected. Whew! On a sunny saturday afternoon me and my two maids of honor ventured to two bridal stores. We thought we were pretty advanced bridesmaid dress seekers, we looked through all the racks, tried out the favorites and came up empty handed. which I sort of expected. Yeah I am so negative. Then the sales lady came to try to help us which I indulged her and let her help me, which I don’t really like to do, but I was glad I did. She went through some dresses and we tried them on, then we liked one! What? Yes! My maids of honor and I had missed this dress, we couldn’t believe it! The dress fit my criteria, short, sweetheart neckline, and a good color purple. The dress was actually purple so I could actually see what the bridesmaid dresses will look like. The maids of honor loved the dress and I was happy. Relief! Wedding stress levels shot down to zero! Then we went and shopped around, ate lunch, had some tart foyo, and yelled for and against some prop 8 protestors, always fun! A fabulous fun day out with my girls!

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No I am not planning depression, I am having planning depression. I swear everyone says planning a wedding is fun, but also stressful. I happen to get stressed and then depressed about it. Meanwhile I am still waiting for the fun part! I had my first (cry about wedding planning) episode when I first started looking for my day of coordinator and then it ended up working out in the end. Just trying to book that first vendor sent me on a roller coaster ride of emotions and tears. I am not a planner, I am more of a do-er, and get anxiety about big decisions and negotiations. Nice traits to have while planning the most momentous day of my life. Maybe I should try not to give into the hype about weddings and my day-my way views. I am not going to be bridezilla supremo-princess-tiara, I do not have strict rules for my wedding in which I need my wedding to be like Princess Diana’s or whatever. But I would like to have a nice day reflective of who fiance and I are. Why so hard then, I guess because the basics of planning a wedding are still the same. 

I do want a great day, a day of union, celebration and appreciation to all the people that mean a lot to me and the fiance. But jeez it is too much to keep in the brain sometimes. Planning is on a roll I must admit it, which does feel good, but with that is a double edged sword of sending out checks keeping track of who I spoke with, scheduling and when I need to follow up. Breaking it down in bits, right now I am in the middle of signing my catering contract, florist contract, make-up and hair appointments, and dj selection. Also I need to call the bridal salon where I purchased my dress since it is supposed to be in this month. Purchase my hair accessories to take with me to the hair appointment. As well as getting in touch with my photographer so we can get the engagement pictures done. Researching hotels in the area to book rooms, at a reasonable price for guests, which adds to the pressure for me to send out save the dates. Why does it add to the pressure you ask? Sonoma Plaza hotels do not give room blocks at any discounts because the rooms will book up anyway, one requires a check they have to cash and send a new one back to you after your guests have booked. These hotels are not cheap and did I mention there are two or three night minimums? One hotel we have to book an event and the more money they think we will spend at the hotel for rehearsal dinner or after wedding brunch, the more rooms they will block for us, again without any discount. I really didn’t see a point of any of the calling I did last week trying to get hotel room blocks, it was futile.  So I am just going to ask guests to book early, hence getting the std’s out now.

Did I mention that the list doesn’t include research to see if the vendors or hotels have reviews and if they are good, meeting, speaking and emailing with multiple florists and make-up/hair people to have price comparisons? Ugh, through all this I do want my dress to come in, but then I would have to put it on and I gained most of the weight I lost when trying to get a bit slimmer. That is not fun! 

Do I sound like a big complainer? I may and sorry if I do, I am not an expert event planner or someone who can see the bigger picture and the pay off right now. I am trying to keep on the positive and act like everything is glorious! Maybe a day off of wedding planning will get me out of the depressed funk.

Ah, the hunt for a florist is fun. Fun because it involves learning what the hell costs so much in that bouquet you cut out from that bridal magazine. I am like a lot of people (I am assuming), don’t know anything about any flower at all well, except roses. So getting my first proposal back from my first florist I met with, is kind of shocking me right now. Here I am googling all of these flowers to find out what a Star of Bethlehem is, and what is a hellebore. I don’t even know what a dahlia looks like. Well now I do. Here are some of the players in my game of wedding flowers.  Here are dahlias, ranunculas, and monkey tails.