One Week!

A lot has happened and has yet to happen in these last few days. We're halfway through finals week, 90% of the way done with planning stuff, and ready for Christmas.

There's a lot of stress on us, too, though. We finally got both of our contracts sold for winter semester and can pick up the keys to our new apartment on Saturday. I fly out Saturday morning and N. follows on Monday. Money's tight, emotions are high, and stress is through the roof. Please keep both of us in your prayers for the next few days!

BUT the good news: contracts are taken care of, everything's bought and almost everything's already paid for. I've got 2 finals left, N.'s got 3 and 2 projects. We're going to see Tron on opening night, and headed to a concert Friday before heading out.

To do before leaving: pack, clean, and take my last two finals. Get rid of all fridge and freezer foods. Get my insulin to D's house. Pick up the last few Christmas presents, check in for the flight. Get my new laptop battery. Pick up accessories for the wedding. Spend time with N. Get S. put together.

Still fairly stressed, but at least it's all culminating now.

Bridal Bash and 10 Days to Go!

Alright all, if we're counting in hours, we're down to single digits by days. Where did the last few months go?

Checklist:

We have an apartment. :) 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, tiny kitchen, but awesome landlord. We're not sure if we'll stay there too long, so for now, the contract's through April. From there, we'll see. BUT we have somewhere.

We bought a mattress set, too, and stored it until we can come pick it up in January. It was funny explaining to the new landlord that we currently have no furniture. Oh well.

We got our first wedding presents! Thank you McL and family friend of N's! Definitely excited. It's like Christmas for the next few weeks.

Mailed the license application to MD this week. THAT was a test in and of itself.

3 finals and a chem test down, 4 finals to go. That's it: 4 tests stand between me and getting myself packed for VA.

We have ties. I have 90% of everyone's Christmas presents. We're almost done on the wedding planning front (and Mom, J wants you to get glogg for the reception).

I hosted a bridal shower! I'm actually surprised I pulled it together. Friends and family kept mentioning it, but not a lot happened, but we actually made it. Thank you to S. and S. for planning games, and to J. for all the help this afternoon. And thank you, D. (almost sisters!) for helping us set up. It was a small group, but we had fun!

Got a blessing from N. I don't remember the last time a blessing was that powerful. I was crying by the end, and he doesn't remember a thing he said. The Spirit really did take over. :)

The To Dos

SELL MY CONTRACT!!! Please, let everyone you know know that I have a women's shared contract that has to go ASAP. There's a $150 incentive to sign in the next week. And there are two spots available, should they want to bring a friend (but not required).

Get N's vest and tie. Everything else is covered, though. Oh yeah, and pick out a dress. Hmm...

STUDY for finals. WHY do they have to get in the way?

Pack and clean and get myself out of here!

Return books.

Get S's Christmas present (shhhh!!!)

Errands down in Spanish Fork and up in Herriman still. Guh. So much to do.

Interview with the stake tomorrow afternoon. CAN'T forget all the parts and pieces needed, especially the papers to sign.

Break in those shoes, now that we're fairly sure I didn't break my foot. (long story, that one)

Get that last batch of invitations out. I know, I know. 10 days and NOW I send them out? They're not associated with people showing up or gifts or anything, just people we're still trying to get addresses for, and let them know the good news.

Finish D&C.

A lot's happening really fast right now. 10 days from now I'll be married. It's still a weird concept, but I'm so grateful I'm going through it with my best friend. Thank you, N, for being my super man. Everything the girls said tonight was and is true: you're amazing. I love you.

Check Please!

Next major things checked off:

We have ties for the guys. They should be here within the next week. Hello, pretty red silk things. :)

And we have an apartment! We go in this weekend to sign the contract and put in the deposit and first couple months' rent. I'm relieved that we finally have a place and hoping I can come to terms with the tiny kitchen without a dishwasher. But really, beyond the tiny kitchen it really is a great place. We're not too far from campus, have two bedrooms, LOTS of storage space, and a covered parking place for N's motorcycle. Rent is within the budget, and utilities shouldn't be too bad. Now if only we'd been able to get this place with a fireplace installed, a kitchen twice its current size, and complete with furniture, life would be great.

Final wedding-related announcement for the day: bridal shower at my hometown this weekend, and holiday party/girls' night next weekend!

And now, if only school wasn't on my tail so much, I really could be excited about all of this. Instead, I've got a GPA to save (NOT sacrifice).

Oh, and as always: if you know of any lovely lady looking for a place to live in Provo, contact me! It really is a great deal :)

Overdrive

Three weeks from today. Wow.

We've gotten a LOT done, but definitely in overdrive now. Thanksgiving break was anything but a break. His parents came to visit, so we spent a lot of time with the family and traveling around the state. I got literally ZERO homework done over break, and now these last couple weeks are kicking my butt. I've had little sleep, we're both stressed, and it's starting to show. I guess being engaged really does bring out the worst sometimes. Oops.

BUT the dress is sitting in my closet. His ring is in. Ties will be here by next week. Food's taken care of. Photography deposit was sent in. Invitations are out. Honeymoon is taken care of. Bridal shower this weekend. Shoes are found and now being broken in. Things are coming together.

School, however, will still be a source of major stress until a week before the big day. I've loved being engaged, but I've definitely NOT loved planning everything while going to school. Talk about busy!

So, as short as this is, I'm headed to bed for my first full night of sleep this week. Love to all!

9 days later

I can't believe how hard it is to keep track of everything!

I slept through a Bountiful Baskets delivery. The guy was really nice and kept trying to call, but I missed him. I guess that's my charitable contribution to the community, right?

And then I lost the receipt to return a bunch of stuff to the craft store. We brought it back, and the best they could do for us was a gift card for the lowest price anyone's bought them for... which was 60% off. Figures.

BUT beyond that, I have a dress, I have my second fitting this week. Ordering N's ring. Picked up invitations Saturday, and they should go out Tuesday! Pictures look amazing. Contract getting sent out on Tuesday as well. Still looking for a place to live. And a crowd to help address envelopes. :)

My sister came to stay for the weekend, and it was actually a lot of fun. I wish I got to see more of her.

And, since it's now 2am and I have a test, a hw assignment, and a presentation in a few hours, I should probably get going. I'll leave with: I have THE best fiance in the world. End of story. Goodnight world.

Oh the Countdowns!

Yesterday made six weeks until the big day! And two weeks until Thanksgiving break, 45 days until Christmas!

A LOT has happened, so trying to update.

We've got photography narrowed down to three choices, and should have a final decision within 48 hours.

Sister Smithee ran the first cake trial, and flavor was a success! More pictures were exchanged, and we definitely have a cake. Thank you!

Grandma, Mom, Regina, and Gigi had a shopping trip Monday and began the buying process for food stuffs and decorations. Which reminds me, I need to head to IKEA to pick a few things up.

Invitation design is finalized, and a sample should be on my table by Monday. We should pick them up within a week.

We had Marie and her husband take pictures last Saturday, and they should be done soon.

Places to stay in VA are booked!

We're booking SD this week, too.

I HAVE A DRESS!!!! AND it's within budget. :) Mom's going to help me hem it when I get home, but getting other alterations taken care of here.

There's still a lot to be done, but it's starting to feel real. I'm actually getting married in 41 days. Wow.

Non-wedding related: S. kidnapped me this afternoon and we spent the evening painting pottery. I never realized what a stress-reliever it could be!

I found a tutor! I might pass this class after all. :)

And really ready for the weekend. Looking forward to a good movie night with N. We both need a relaxing evening, stress free.

A Little About the Process

Since getting engaged...

We enjoyed the first week and did almost no wedding planning. The bit that we did do, though, was the most important.

We needed to set a date. A cousin had gotten engaged over the summer and was also planning a winter wedding, so we tried to accommodate and coordinate plans. After many conversations with parents, each other, and each others' fiances, we settled on a slightly unusual plan: we're getting married on the same day, at the same place, just a couple hours apart. It means family can come to both without having major travel issues, more people can come, and both couples can be there for each other's big day. It wasn't what either couple originally had in mind, but overall I think we're all pretty excited about it. :)

After the date, we set up endowment times (www.lds.org for more information). Beyond that...

Week two we spent an afternoon at Lowes picking out paint swatches to send to parents for color ideas. The paint was rejected, though, so we ended up at JoAnn's to get ribbon pieces. We also picked up some Wilton Black and White Elegance invitations on sale. Originally, a great choice. Now, though, there are problems (more on that later). We scheduled plane tickets that second week, too.

Week three: Started dress shopping. Did a major inventory of bridal magazines and started clipping both pictures and coupons. Definitely coming in handy. Sent Mom all the colors, aforementioned pictures, and ideas I could. Started researching photographers.

Week four: went to a local bridal fair, where we actually found someone to put together our invitations for not much more than we would have, had we done it ourselves. AND it would save us the time and hassle. So we agreed, paid, and went to return the invitations. Problem #1: the receipt was nowhere to be found. Problem #2: when we got to the store, they'd only give store credit, and for the lowest price any of them had been purchased for: half price. Right now, there's no reason for $150 of in-store credit at a craft store. SO... if you or anyone you know is looking for some classy DIY black and white pocket invitations, I've got 150 sets of them (3 inserts, outer and reply envelopes, pocket, main envelope, and ribbon) for $100.

I also lost a dress I fell in love with, which I'm still grieving over. Records were confused, and the dress I put on hold was sold. So I'm back to hunting!

We had a professional friend graciously offer his photography services during the reception in my hometown!! Thank you, Erik!

We also had a coupon for a free engagement shoot from one of the top photographers in the state, so we tried it. We had a blast taking pictures, and the guy did some really good work, but the freebie was limited to the shoot, not the photos themselves. SO engagement pictures haven't been arranged, either.

Talked with a lady about making a cake, did lots of hunting and emailing around town for ideas, too.

Week four was really stressful school-wise: four tests, a quiz, and a paper all due that week. And to top it off, I had oral surgery (wisdom teeth) at the end of the week. Ever since, popsicles and pudding have been my new best friends.

And week 5: a lady from home has agreed to make our cake! She's really excited to try this, so working on a test one in the coming weeks, then contacting for more details. We may have a photographer (or two!) lined up for ceremony pictures, and at a fraction of the normal price. How? Hello, Craigslist! Be up front with your request and budget, and be prepared for a lot of people ignoring both. However, be patient; the rewards will come.

My grandmother has also agreed to make my dress if I don't find anything by the end of the week, so now we're sorting through patterns. I'm a little worried, but with under 7 weeks to go, there's not time to order one from anywhere. I'm hoping for a miracle on this one.

We also figured out housing/hotels for everyone from the FI's family, as well as night-before arrangements. We started our registry and finalized invitations. We've got our top choices for honeymoon locations narrowed down, too. AND we have a friend doing our engagement pictures this weekend.

There's still a long way to go, but we're making progress, and definitely still within budget!