Yes, the wedding is still on hahahaha

Oh my gosh, almost a year and a half between posts. Life has gotten the best of me apparently and hasn't allowed for any spare moments.

The wedding is a month away! I can't believe we got to this point, finally!! The plans are going extremely well, I'm actually quite calm about everything even though everyone warned me I'd be a mess.

I don't have much time to post a novel, but I will attempt to find a day where I can write out what we're planning and how things are going.

Plans are moving ahead!

Yikes! About 3 months between posts! You know you're busy when...

First off, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our readers. We had a pretty good holiday this year, very busy, but filled with family and friends, just the way we like it.

I'm working only 2 jobs over the holidays! But between the two, I only have 3 days off over the 2.5 weeks I'm off from school, so I haven't had much time to breathe, let alone plan the wedding. Although things have come to a bit of a standstill, I feel as if time is rushing by me and I can't believe we're already a year and half away! Once I start my last semester of school, I'm sure I'll be shocked once I'm finally able to sit down and do serious wedding planning, and realize I only have a year left.

We came really close to postponing the wedding this month, but now that things have settled and are a little more certain, plans are moving forward. We're booking the Waltonian this week! I'll be calling on January 1st, and hopefully they'll book us right away. I'll be sending them the deposit, and we'll have the venue done and taken care of! Hurrah! I think afterwards, my next steps are to find an officiant, then meet with the decorator to finalize our decorating package, and then dress shopping in June!

We hope everyone has a very happy and healthy New Year! I'm looking forward to graduating, getting a "real" job, and having more details of the wedding finished, so this year is shaping up to be a very happy one for us indeed!

Update, with a bit of a rant

Holy cow, it's been been a loooong time since I've posted. I'm pretty sure no one really reads this anyway, but oh well, it's a good place for me to chat when Dave is tired of hearing about wedding details :P.

So I guess my first update can be related to my weight loss. I'm down a little over 15lbs and feeling fantastic. A few people have mentioned that I look smaller. Dave says I look skinnier and he hopes I don't shrink any more :P. I tried on a dress that I had bought for Dave's Dad's wedding back in February that was way too small for me to wear. It fits like a glove now :D and I feel super fantastic in it! I'll be wearing it to Dave's Aunt's wedding in a month, so I hope to lose at least another 4lbs before then. I'm making small steps, but they add up quickly!

Next up, the centerpieces. Well, my "grow op" wasn't very successful, and after Dave finally put his foot down about all the plants in the house, and expressed his concern over how upset I was getting over them dying, we put a kebosh on the design and I'm starting from scratch. I have a few ideas that I've really come to like, and I'll post a pic or two here to give you an idea of what

I've come to like. I really like this idea, I'm not going with floating candles though, just candles and petals on the table. I'm thinking of wrapping some wire with different shades of blue beads around the base of them to add the touch of blue I want in there. I can get the orchids at the dollar store, and get some pretty cheap cylinder vases at Ikea or something (maybe even the dollar store too!). We'll see.

Ummmm can't really think of anything else related to planning that I've done...it's been a busy couple months with work and I just kind of put everything on the back burner for a bit.

Now, for my vent. Someone just called me ignorant because I said divorce is not a word in our vocabulary. Dave and I have survived a lot these past 3 years. Addiction, school, long distance, unemployment, health issues, death, and I could go on and on. But we've survived, stronger every day. We've always said how the only two things that would tear us apart were cheating and abuse. Is that reasonable? I think so. We're dedicated to our relationship and our upcoming marriage. We will fight through anything other than those two things. No one should throw statistics in my face and tell me it happens every day, so I should consider it. Dave and I are going in to this marriage with the mentality that divorce is NOT an option (again, unless one of us cheats or becomes abusive). I'm not naive, I'm not looking at life through rose-coloured glasses, I know that marriage takes a LOT of work - heck, this relationship has been a lot of work! But we love each other and we want to be together for the rest of our lives. It's like anything we want in life - if we want it badly enough, we'll work hard for it. Ugh. Some people just make me so angry....oh well. I need to stop taking things so personally. I have faith in us :)

The Waltonian!

These are the quick pics I took of the Waltonian while we were there. The staff were busy putting together the final touches for the wedding that was happening today, so we got a good feel for what to expect for our own day. Dave and I absolutely love it, and we can book it in January for our date. The best part is the tower on the beach - we can either get married underneath it or up on top and have guests watch from the porch. This is the best place that gives us a ceremony site and reception site all in one :)

Centerpieces

So I've been experimenting with growing herbs to put them in to the centerpieces I've decided on. They're going to be in a blue flower pot (pictured above), surrounded by cream coloured candles and have cranberry coloured rose petals sprinkled around them. I've got most of the candles I need (thanks to some good sleuthing by Colleen!) and I'll probably go get more flower pots as the season dies down and they go on sale. The project is going well, I'm keeping track of what the herbs look like every week to see how far in advance I should start growing them for the wedding. I want them to be full and fresh to pick when the guests take them home. It's mostly been a success, so I get some real plants for the wedding on the cheap! Take a look! The herb in the blue pot is basil, and the others are chervil (third pic), parsley (second pic), and stevia (first pic) (the stevia isn't going very well, and it's a really expensive herb, so I probably won't use it).

Weight Loss

Ok, so I'm starting my diet today. I need lots of encouragement. I want to lose 27lbs (which will bring me down to my goal weight of 140lbs). This is what I looked like when I was at this weight (I'm the one in the middle with the shoulder blond/brown hair). I felt a lot better then than I do now. Hopefully this works. I'm also on a 12 week running program to get myself back in to shape. I may supplement this with weight lifting too. Wish me luck!

Strippers

Ok, one of my pet peeves of the day.

Yes, I hate strippers. That's just me. The thought of someone dancing in front of a person, showing off her goodies for money makes me cringe. Personally, it's not for me. I've told Pookie this (my maid of honour) because she's planning my bachelorette. She understands. So ladies, no strippers at my bachelorette. Sorry to disappoint lol. But I don't want some pork sword swung in my face on a night of fun - because that to me is not really fun.

On the other hand, if Dave's buddies decide to throw him a bachelor party complete with a strip club, I am O.K. with that. Now, you may ask me "How can you not be O.K. with strippers, but O.K. with Dave seeing them?" Ah, but that word, "seeing" is the key to the answer to that question. There usually is a "no touch" policy, so really all he is doing is "seeing" them. Does he have the same emotional attachment to them as he does to me? No. Will he come home at the end of the night and be with me? Yes. Are we getting married and spending the rest of our lives together? Yes. Do I trust him? YES.

And those are my thoughts on that situation. I trust him, he's marrying me, not the stripper. I'm not going to sit there and tell him "You cannot have strippers at your bachelor party". I can't control that! And I don't think it's really fair for me to tell him and his buddies what they can/cannot do. I hate strippers, but I hate being the controlling woman even more. If Dave feels he doesn't want strippers either, that is up to him to decide and tell his buddies. I have no place in the planning and execution of the bachelor party, so I won't act like I do.