Bachelorette Weekend......

I don't have a ton to write about today as I am lying on the couch. 4 of my college friends are in town for my bachelorette party tonight and last night was a long night of margaritas and wine! Wooo-hoooo, just a little tired today! We went and sat on the enclosed patio at Taxco on Roswell Road last night for dinner and drinks. I only have one thing to say about that. Has anyone ever realized that it feels like you are inside a hot-air balloon sitting on that patio? The heater for the porch resembles a huge blow torch and every few minutes it starts blasting hot air into the plastic enclosed porch. Every few minutes someone could comment "GOING UP" when the blasting would start. Stay tuned, I have a very funny story to post about but I just don't have the energy to do it right now. It will be worth the wait!

Dance lesson horrors

Is it possible to become a worse dancer from taking lessons? The answer to this question is YES. We had our second dance lesson tonight and I can't think of anything more embarrassing that I have had to do in awhile. All week I have told Deaner how embarrassed I am by these private lessons. I mean, our instructor Julio (not Jose as I wrote down on the sign in sheet and got chastised for) smells like a mexican restaurant. And don't get me wrong, I love mexican restaurants, but my clothes go straight to the hamper when I get home. Remember my post about Deaner embarrassing me so badly in front of his family re: my pink book? Well, he did it again tonight. Tonight we arrived at our lesson and I went to use the restroom before our teacher got there. When I came back I caught the tail end of Deaner blabbing to the teacher about how embarrassed I was about dancing in front of people and how I really needed to be in the private room due to my embarrassment. Arrrggg. Of course I was embarrassed, the couples dancing on the shared dance floor last week were practicing for a BALLROOM DANCING COMPETITION. It didn't help when Julio abruptly turned off their music, they all angrily turned toward him, and he said "sorry we have a beginner private lesson starting now in the middle of the floor"! So I guess it was kind of sweet this week that Deaner thought enough to ask to go into the private room. I just wish he hadn't made it painfully clear it was due to my embarrassment!

The whole process has been very funny I suppose even though I am not typically laughing on my way to the lessons! Deaner's lack of embarrassment is no indicator of his dancing abilities. We are both pretty bad. Did anyone ever play the Dizzy Dizzy Bat game when they were kids? I was that kid that careened out of control and crashed into the first thing that stopped me. I'm not joking when I tell the teacher and Deaner that I am getting dizzy from all the twirling. 2 down 1 to go. I laughed out loud when Julio suggested extra lessons before March 7th. Uhhh, I think not.

I almost jinxed myself!

I did something really stupid yesterday but it keeps making me laugh when I think about it. Sometime in the late afternoon I talked to my roommate and she told about how her car had broken down again. This always surprises me since she got this car brand new while we were in college and it is newer than my car. She always has story after story about how awful her dealership is ect. I went on a long tangent about how my car has been so awesome and whenever something is wrong with it how my dealership is so incredible blah blah blah(which by the way is true). I drive a 2001 Acura TL and I have been so impressed with the dealership where I get it serviced that I would buy another one in a heartbeat. When Deaner and I move to Germany my dad is going to buy my car for my brother. The car has 103k miles on it and I just don't feel comfortable bringing a car that old to another country where they don't even sell Acuras. Anyways, I digress. So after I go on and on about how my car never has any issues, something horrible happens. I noticed that morning that my car was making a funky noise on my way to work. Solution? Turn up the music and ignore. Unfortunately on the way home the noise was getting louder and louder. It was this awful rattling noise that sounded like it was coming from my dashboard and/or glove compartment. I tried holding my hand on the dashboard while I was driving to see if I could feel any vibration. Nothing. The noise is now becoming more frequent. I turned the radio off completely so I could 100% concentrate on what it could be. I briefly contemplated calling Acura to see if they could give me a service appointment but it was after 5pm and I had no idea when I would actually be able to bring it in. I was going to have to ask Deaner to do it on his day off Friday. My bachelorette party is this weekend and I have friends coming in from everywhere leaving me no time to deal with this. As tears were starting to prick at my eyes because all I could think about was how expensive this was going to be for me (after all, a noise like this could only be $$$) I happened to glance up at my rear view mirror. Imagine my surprise when I realized that my GA400 TOLL TAG (a hard white plastic box--no I have not gotten the new sleek sticker like tag yet) has come partially detached from my windshield and seems to be dangling by a thread. Sure enough at that exact moment I went over some bump in the road that allowed me to witness the toll tag bang into my rear view mirror, thus creating the horrible noise!! As realization struck regarding how stupid I was you can hardly imagine my relief. Nothing was wrong with my car, it wasn't about to blow up, and I can continue to brag about how nothing ever happens to it. Well, I might keep those thoughts to myself. Crisis averted.

Part III.

When I first started searching for Deaner's grooms cake I was worried I wouldn't be able to find someone to do it. This is a picture of the most famous building on the University of Virginia's "grounds", the Rotunda. It seemed like a perfect idea to have this building replicated for Deaner's groom's cake. I should have kept it a secret because I know he would have been surprised and thrilled but I am terrible with keeping secrets and I stood a chance! Outrageous Cakes has assured us that they have baked the Rotunda several times before and can produce a great version of it. I can't wait to see it. (they actually don't appear to have a web page so the link above is to the google phone book information).

My wedding gown (which is currently back at the store for alterations) is a Priscilla of Boston. I don't have a clue if I would be able to find it online even if I had hours to try so I'll have to wait to post a picture of it. The dress belongs to my aunt Jennifer, who wore it in her wedding 2 years ago, and it is beautiful!

Affairs To Remember is going to cater the big day. I have been to several events that this vendor has catered and the food is DIVINE. Rich, our contact there, has been great. Deaner, my mother, my aunt, and myself joined Rich for lunch one day for a sampling of food and the presentation was impressive. Some of highlights/my personal favorites that will be served at our wedding include the Mac 'n Cheese bar. YUM! Mac 'n cheese is served in martini glasses and topped with fried chicken bites, bacon crumbles, chives, onion tanglers, and Tabasco sauce. I'm getting hungry thinking about it. We are also having a creation that I first tasted at sampling lunch. It is sweet potato mashed potatoes topped with the most awesome BBQ you have ever tasted and greens (I don't eat the greens!). There will also be pepper encrusted tenderloin, risotto with a wild mushroom ragu, chicken picatta, and several other things tha I can't remember but know are going to be incredible.

I was not very into my flowers but since my mom has found the most wonderful florist at, of all places, Fresh Market, I am getting more excited. Isla Thompson, the florist, works out of The Fresh Market in North Buckhead (4405 Roswell Road) and my mom noticed her one day while she was doing the arrangements for another wedding. Isla let my mom come back in the cooler to see the other flowers and it became a routine that when my mom was in the grocery store she would stop by to see what she was working on. A few weeks ago she was working on a wedding for someone getting married in Baton Rouge! The Bride insisted on using Isla even though the wedding wasn't anywhere near Atlanta. My bridal bouquet is going to have vendela creme roses, mini white calla lilies, stephanotis, white sweet peas or limegreen lisianthus with greenery around the edge. The stems will be tied with ivory fabric. My bridesmaid's bouquets will have 20 stems of mini and medium white calla lilies tied together with a celadon (same color as bridesmaid's dresses)band. The groomsmen will be wearing mini white calla lily bouttonneires. There are plenty more arrangements but I've already written too much on the flowers already!

Part II.

I wish I could have found a better picture of Ansley to post but there weren't many options! As I said in my previous post, Ansley almost won out as our reception venue. In the end The Fox just worked better because of the size but I am lucky because my Bridesmaids Luncheon will be at Ansley. They just finished renovations at the club and I can't wait to see everything that they have done. I practically grew up here and I know that it will be special.

I never thought that it would be as difficult to find a rehearsal dinner venue as it was. There are so many incredible restaurants in Atlanta but we kept running into a space issue. Most restaurants were happy to accommodate between 50-75 guests but we knew off the bat that our rehearsal dinner would have at least 100 people. If all our wedding party brings a date (I hope this doesn't happen!) the wedding party alone could have up to 43 people including us. We visited several other venues including Anthony's, Villa Christina, and Ray's on the River but finally decided on Paul's Restaurant. Every native Atlantan knows of the famous chef Paul Albrecht, formerly of Pano's and Paul's. I know that the food will live up to his stellar reputation. The people we have been working with at Paul's have been great and I am really looking forward to the rehearsal dinner.

So, I never thought that one of my most favorite vendors would be such a simple idea. VistaPrint has been the source for one stop invitation shopping! This website is incredible and the prices cannot be beaten. It is not the easiest site to navigate but if you are patient and search for what you are looking for, you will not be disappointed. Here is the copy of my rehearsal dinner invitation (the wording is obviously not the same). We also purchased the matching envelopes and they came in this week, looking great! I also ordered the tri fold brochure to leave for out of town guests at the hotel when they check in. These "brochures" are typically used for business advertising but they made the perfect wedding information brochure. We were able to upload pictures of ourselves to them, change the background color to match my wedding colors, include directions to all the weekend events, a letter from Deaner and myself, wedding itinerary, and restaurant locations. They should be delivered this week! I saw a copy of my Bridesmaids Luncheon invitation this weekend and I THINK that this is the invitation. I also ordered these note cards for writing thank you notes. I changed the color, font, and added the linen finish. They turned out awesome and there is no other place (that I have found at least) where I could order 100 note cards for $37!! Now I just have to wait until after we get married to use them! Check this site out, it is well worth it.

The last vendor for this post will be my wedding invitations. For years I have saved a file with all the wedding invitations I have received so that when the time came, I could have a reference as to what I liked best. Surprisingly enough, I picked something that didn't even resemble anything I had ever received. I hate that I haven't figured out how to attach a PDF yet to a post so I can't show everyone exactly what they look like! Reaves Engraving, which is located in North Carolina, did a fantastic job and I love my invitation. I had a monogram made that is embossed on the top of the invite and it could not be more "me". I'm going to have to figure out a way to post a picture of it.

Coming up next: grooms cake, after party, wedding dress, caterer, flowers, and bridesmaids and groomsmen gifts. I am going to have to become a bit more succinct!

A few of my favorite things....

With the wedding being 6 weeks away I figured I might share a few of our biggest vendors. To set the scene we are having a high noon ceremony at The Cathedral of Christ the King. I went to school at Christ the King from kindergarten thru 8th grade so I am pretty excited about getting married in the church where I grew up.

Our reception is being held at one of my favorite places in all of Atlanta. Being that we only had seven and a half months to plan our wedding I never imagined that The Fox would be available. My other front runner was here but I could not be more excited to have landed The Fox. I am extremely lucky to have quite the "in" at The Fox and I can't imagine what I would have done without my secret weapon. :)

Those are the two biggest venues we are using but the details are the best. I am not a fan of cake AT ALL so at first I did not really care much about what kind of wedding cake I had. Now the cake is one things that I am most excited about. Classic Cheesecake is creating my wedding cake and it is going to be a four layer cheesecake. The largest/bottom layer is going to be white chocolate frangelica, the second layer is turtle, third layer is vanilla bean, and the top layer is going to be oreo. I believe it will be the first piece of wedding cake that I actually eat! Mark, at Classic Cheesecake, is awesome and I would recommend him to anyone.

Since the Egyptian Ball Room at The Fox is so enormous I wanted to have a band that would be big enough to fill the space and really engage our guests. The Del Baroni Orchestra & On The Air played at my Aunt's wedding (same venue) in their trio form. I loved them but wanted something a bit bigger. Worked out for me well when the 9 piece orchestra was available for my wedding date! Wooo-hooo! 4 members of the band only play horns! I'm pumped.

Instead of having a traditional guest book at our reception we have decided to do something a bit more off the wall. I am so excited about this part that I can hardly stand it. We are getting a PHOTO BOOTH for guests to get their picture taken! That's right, this is the same type of photo booth that people enter, pull the curtain, act goofy, and receive a strip of four photos!! The photo booth prints TWO copies of the photo strip, one for the guests to keep as a favor, and one that the photo booth attendant will put in a scrap book that will be completed by the end of the reception! Guests will be able to fill out a "best wishes" card to be placed next to their photo strip in the "guest book". I think that this idea is brilliant and if I had thought of this idea for a company I imagine I would be rich by now. Photo Booth Phun has multiple stellar reviews on Kudzu.com and I can't wait to see how everything turns out!

Ok, so I was a bit hasty to think that I could cover all my favorite vendors in one post. It is getting late, I'm exhausted, and we have a Mexican themed cocktail party being hosted in our honor tomorrow. Time for bed! Stay tuned for Part II. of "my favorite things" which will include details about the Groom's cake, rehearsal dinner, our (incredible) invitations, wedding dress, caterer, bridesmaids luncheon, after party, flowers, bridesmaids/groomsman's gifts, and my new found love for Vista Print. Ok, who am I fooling? There might be a Part III. and a Part IV!! Does anyone know how to upload a PDF file to a post?

Denny Duquette Must Die..........again!

If the Grey's Anatomy writers don't lose this guy, and lose him fast, I'm done. I loved Denny when he was alive but let the character go!! I can't even concentrate anymore on the rest of the show because this story line is so awful. Not to mention weird, creepy, and not normal. Just my opinion. If anyone can honestly say they think it is a good story line, speak now, or forever hold your peace.

The list keeps getting longer....

The days are becoming fewer and fewer, I cross a million things off my "to do" list every day, yet it continues to get longer and longer. I knew that wedding planning took a lot of effort but I wish that some things would just take care of themselves. Below is a list of the Top 10 most obnoxious tasks that I have to take care of AS QUICKLY AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE and/or things that are bothering me that I have zero control over:

10. Why God why did my future in-laws think that it was acceptable to give us dance lessons for Christmas? Neither of us can dance very well but we can certainly fake it for 2 minutes while the band plays our first dance. They did not give us one dance lesson or even two, rather, 3 private lessons, 1 group lesson, and a DANCE PARTY. Holy crap. After our first lesson last night (which I could not have been more embarrassed by) Deaner is more robotic and more rigid than ever. I'm assuming this occurs when you are trying to count in your head ect. Anywho, we are having our 2nd lesson with Jose next week.

9. Isn't all wedding ceremony music the same? A little Cannon in D here a Wedding March there....Why must I trek over to the church after work next week and meet with the organist for him to play me some "examples"? Dude, I have been IN 10 weddings, just pick something. But while I am on that topic, why do you charge $400 for a 30 minute ceremony? Maybe I can just ask guests to hum loudly.

8. Why don't invited guests return their RSVP cards? I mean, it isn't that hard. They are already stamped for crying out loud! Now I understand that some people don't immediately know if they will be able to come or not. Example: Deaner's friend who is currently living in Rome, Italy. That example does not bug me. Example that does bug me: Deaner's GROOMSMEN who haven't returned their RSVP card. Guys, you know you are coming, just put the card in the mailbox!

7. I tried on my wedding dress in October and it fit. I have lost 20 pounds since then and now it is too tight. Yes, you read that correctly. It might seem like a physical impossibility but I swear it is true. It was back to Priscilla of Boston this week to start over. There is not time to have several ribs surgically removed.

6. How come everyone is available to come to our wedding? I swear I really wanted all 358 of you to come but I really did think that 158 of you wouldn't be able to. We have had 9 regrets. Seriously, what am I going to do if 349 guests come? (and by "I" I mean, my parents). Maybe all those people NOT RSVPing can't come.

5. Hostess gifts/bridesmaids gifts/groomsmen gifts. This probably only worked against me due to my anal nature of gift wrapping perfection. I am super lucky in that my mom took care of all of this. This Saturday I spent 3 solid hours, sitting on the floor, wrapping 13 hostess gifts and 8 bridesmaids gifts. I love to wrap but that is a lot. And I still have to figure out the best way to wrap 10 soft side coolers for the groomsmen. Ideas?

4. Scanning baby pictures for the rehearsal dinner slide show. Children of the digital photo era are going to have it a lot easier since their baby pictures will already be stored somewhere on a CD.

3. Choosing readings for the ceremony. I don't want to seem like this has no sentimental value to me, because it does, but more than likely I am not going to be able to concentrate on the readings.

2. Writing thank you notes. Whew! I have a personal rule. When I give someone a gift all I ask for in return is that they let me know they got it. Please do not feel as though you have to write me a thank you note. I am personally releasing everyone I ever give a gift to from thanking me in writing. I know you love it so go enjoy it! All that said, I ordered some REALLY cute note cards to write my thank yous! I'm trying to stay on top of them!

1. The biggest pain in the butt to deal with has been the "after party". Since we are getting married at noon we wanted to plan something for that evening where we can hang out with our friends and really get to visit. We wanted it to be within walking distance from the hotel/Fox and casual. When I called Gordon Biersch to inquire about an event like this I was informed that we had to guarantee a $5,000 food/beverage minimum. Hmmm, let me think.....no. That was about six months ago. Yesterday we were at the end of our rope and really had no options. Deaner called Gordon Biersch one more time and now we have the whole upstairs private bar, 5 pool tables, and a plasma TV for the evening all for $100. WTF? Where was this sweet deal for the last 6 months? I'm going to try not to think about how much easier this would have been had we been offered this upfront.

And there you have my woes of the week! 44 days and counting!

Two dogs are not better than one!

Is it acceptable to break into a neighbors condo and put a muzzle on their dog?? Seriously. I am seriously contemplating it. Deaner recently got new neighbors in his condo complex. This new couple (girls) seemed nice enough and I didn't see any immediate issues. When they moved in they were dog-sitting for a friend's dog that we were assured would be on his way in several days. These walls are thin so listening to them toss a tennis ball against the shared wall got VERY old VERY fast. I was not sad one bit to see the dog leave when his time was up. It was so peaceful not hearing those claws clacking on the hard wood floor and not having to hear him bark when the girls would leave to condo. Ahhhh, it was so nice. Nice, past tense. Somehow that damn dog reappeared the next week! When I saw them playing outside one day I sweetly inquired about the dog's return. As it turns out, the girls missed him so much that they talked the dog's owner into letting them KEEP the dog. Oh great. I might have been able to deal with this if I had known how much worse it was going to get. Two weeks ago these stupid girls came home with A PUPPY!!!!!! Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!! This should be illegal in a complex that shares walls. To make matters worse, they leave the condo every single night around the same time and how do these dogs keep themselves entertained? They bark and howl at each other for hours and hours on end. Everytime they get riled up I tell Deaner I am going to put a note on their door. I mean, is this really fair? The dogs don't bark like that if someone is home so how can they know that this is going on? Everytime he talks me out of it saying that it is asking for a fight, however, tonight he caved. I walked into the door tonight at 6:55pm. At 8:15 they had not taken one break from barking and Deaner had had enough. FINALLY!! I got to send an e-mail!! I told the girl that I was afraid something was wrong with her dogs because they hadn't stopped barking even for a minute for over two hours. I said it was my hope that she had a blackberry and that she could come home and check on them because I was worried about them. 5 minutes later, she walked in the door, and voila, the dogs shut up. I might have started a war but I hardly care. Sometimes you just get to a breaking point but I'm a little nervous to check my e-mail again!

My mom's latest idea.....

A few weeks ago my mother announced her intentions to start a blog of her own. This made me laugh a little thinking of my mom typing away at her dinosaur computer about the trials and tribulations of her life but then I thought that was a little mean of me. She is currently the mother of TWO brides and in the midst of planning TWO weddings. I thought to myself that it was actually a pretty good idea and if she sticks with it, it could be pretty funny. Then she announced that she was starting this blog with the intention of then selling the rights to her material as a hollywood screen play! Nothing like having a lofty intention! I just set up a blogger account for her and now she is hounding me to find her cute background. My dad predicts that she will never even write one post. While I was contemplating what her URL address should be my dad told me to get past the small things and get to the part where she was making millions. We also asked the Magic 8 Ball if one day her blog would be so successful that it would make millions. "Outcome Not Likely". Sorry Mom, I am hoping that you prove all of us wrong! Stay tuned, I'll post a link to the new blog IF she does ever post anything. I have a pretty good feeling that it won't be until she finishes the last book in the Twilight Saga.....then we might get her interest back.

Consider me terrorist saavy.....

Today I got to perform my first task as the future spouse of a future civilian government employee living overseas. In a mere 48 minutes I was "trained" on how to handle various situations in the event that I encounter terrorist activity. I learned how to possibly identify a potential terrorist (who knew a terrorist could be the man next to you at the bus stop hiding behind his newspaper!?) and well as pointers on how to be unpredictable therefore avoiding my own kidnapping!

When I agreed to move overseas I was under the impression that I was moving to the safest places on earth. Well, I didn't feel so great after this online training course! I am really just teasing because I know where we are moving IS very safe and that the training I had to do was just protocol but it is scary to think that THAT was the training I received.

Basically the online training has succeeded in planting ideas in my head that no matter what, I am always going to remember. For starters, did you know the safest room in any given hotel is on the 4th floor, with a balcony, entry door opening to the interior, and close to the fire escape? With these attributes you will be far enough from the street should there be a car bomb, a fire truck's ladder will reach your balcony for escape, and interior entry in close proximity to the fire escape makes breaking in more difficult and escaping easier! Now there is an easy list to accommodate! I'd like to see the hotel clerk's face when I start to list my requirements. :) To make things a bit easier we can stay in a room all the way up to the 10th floor but that is the absolute highest a firetruck ladder will reach!!

I think that the most helpful pointer of the training was the advice bestowed upon me about how to handle the following situation: I am being held by a captor in a hotel room on a bed (ok, I guess it doesn't HAVE to be a hotel room). The question posed was what I should do in the event that my rescuer busted down the door to save me. Should I shout out to my rescuer OR make frantic arm gestures towards the rescuer OR quietly roll onto the floor beside the bed (I want to know why it was so specific that I was being held on a bed?) until the confrontation is over? And the correct answer is......ROLL TO THE FLOOR QUIETLY AND ALLOW THE CONFRONTATION TO PASS!! Easy enough! Who would have thought?

So I have pretty much concluded that over the next three years, if I follow all the rules, I will be doing a lot of tattling on innocent bystanders, not opening the door to men in utility uniforms, and frequently changing my schedule to keep potential kidnappers thrown off course. Now all I need to do is find a house to buy that isn't on a cul-de-sac, is close to a local police station, and allows for more than one route to work! Everyone should live like this! :)

Think YOU are having a bad day?

Tell that to these people! I am sure they will really sympathetic to your plight. I still cannot stop looking at this picture. That's right folks, while you were contemplating the crap going on in your day, these people were standing on the wing of a plane in the middle of the Hudson River. All joking aside, this is one of the most miraculous stories I have heard in awhile. Shortly after take off from LaGuardia airport around 3:30pm today this US Airways plane hit a flock of geese and passengers were told to "brace for impact". This is the sort of story that nightmares are made of. Somehow the pilot kept control of the plane and managed to land PERFECTLY into the water. By perfectly, I mean that every single passenger bound for Charlotte, N.C. survived. Unreal. I bet that some of those people were pretty ticked to be standing on the wing of a crashed airplane in 41 degree water but I also imagine that every single one of them will want to shake the hand of the hero that brought them down gently enough into the water as not to hurt anyone. It isn't often that a plane crashes and only 4 people are taken to the hospital to be treated, of all things, for hypothermia. My question is where did the rest of the passengers go? I hardly think that they were towed into the harbor and caught a cab back to the airport for round two.

It was an event that most of America will shortly forget. I doubt it will be that easy for the passengers of this flight. They will never forget the heroics that this pilot demonstated today. All in a days work, right? I say give this man a raise!

Ugh

Not very many funny things went down today! I spent from 2pm until 5:30pm in a chair in the dentists office. Yuck. I am not one of those people who has a fear of the dentist but I don't necessarily enjoy going. Not only was I getting a cavity filled, at the age of 28, but the dentist recently convinced me that I needed a NEW crown. I know that normally only 80 year olds have crowns but I had to get one in college as a result of a "stress fracture" in my tooth. WTF? A stress fracture? I think that it is possible that dentists are pulling one over on us. So anyways the dentist today practically had to jackhammer the old crown out of my mouth. The difficulty he had removing the old crown is also a contributing factor to my belief that it wasn't necessity! At first I was irritated that the dentist numbed me up to my eyeball but I was thankful when all that drilling started. I didn't even mind that I was having difficulty blinking and I couldn't feel my ear due to numbness. Now I am watching The Biggest Loser on DVR while I can feel my heart beating in my face. Yeeeeooooowwwww.

And to think, I had to pay THEM to do that to me! $705! Ugh. The only thing that makes it better is that I put the money on my Flex Spending Account last month so my office has to pay for it. Too bad I won't be there after March to pay it back! :)

We are getting closer and closer!

Tonight Deaner and I had our second to last meeting with the priest who will be marrying us in March. We only have to meet with him one more time, for 30 minutes tops, to plan the actual ceremony. It is a good thing too because I am not sure how much more of "Sex in the Marriage" Deaner could have taken. I am sort of over being embaressed about it but Deaner was pretty quiet tonight. It could have been because we were both speed reading at 5:00pm this afternoon before bolting to the church but more than likely it was the subject matter. Has anyone seen the movie The Family Stone? It came out a few years ago around Christmas and I saw it thinking that it was going to be some hilarious comedy. I was definitely mislead but did end up liking it. Anyways, in the movie Sarah Jessica Parker's character was an extremely irritating woman with a complusive throat clearing issue. This same throat clearing issue suddenly overcame Deaner while in this meeting tonight. I imagine if he was wearing a button down and tie that he would have been constantly running his finger underneath his collar as well. Thankfully, we are done! I am very excited and will not miss having "homework"! 53 DAYS!! If only I could get my "To Do" list under control!

I must be a glutton for punishment.....

Last year about this time Deaner's nagging got to be too much and I relented and allowed him to pay for my monthly membership to the gym down the street. Some might think that this is a good deal for me but I can assure you it is not. While I appreciate that my figure is now fitting back into clothes that I hadn't worn in several years, I still curse Deaner 80% of the time when he is standing at the door waiting for me to get home from work. I have tried all sorts of tricks such as, I have to work late, I have to go to my parent's house after work, or that I am too exhausted to move but each time he waits on me to get home from work and drags my lazy butt with him. Don't think that this has not caused more than one fight!

A few months ago I decided to try something new that would give me a break from the ordinary drudge of my 60 minute prison sentence on the elipticle. Since I was feeling really adventurous and had fooled myself into thinking I was in excellent shape after 9 solid months in the gym I went to a spin class. Oh. My. God. When I got to the level of physical exertion where I could no longer take a sip of my water because I was so winded, I checked the clock. 8 minutes into an hour class. I seriously didn't think I would make it. I am pretty sure I lost every ounce of water that was in my body in that hour long class. I came home whipped, showered, and passed out. I felt a huge accomplishment for having done the class at all and by the time it was over I was thinking "I could do this again!" Then I woke up. I could hardly walk much less sit in a chair like a human being would. If I had had a blow up doughnut, I'm pretty sure I would have willingly brought it to work with me. Talk about serious pain "down there". And it did not subside for days! I didn't think I would ever be able to do that class again but since I am so tough and such an accomplished athlete I got right back in the saddle! No pun intended. However this time it was on a newly purchased gel seat cover. I know that people say your butt gets used to spinning but I am not sure if mine would have. So I did the only thing that seemed fair. Why should I keep this awesome cardio workout discovery all to myself? I brought Deaner with me. Ha ha ha ha! We showed up for class on a Wednesday night and we were the only TWO people in the whole class! A private spin class with no one to take the attention off ourselves! Deaner tried to tell me at the end of class that the class was "easy" but even he couldn't keep a straight face. And the next day I got to watch him hobble around. Now we are the proud owners of TWO gel seat covers! Whoever said spin class was for girls? Deaner and I have been going to class together now for a few months and tonight there were more men in the class than women. If anyone is looking for a new way to burn a ton of calories in 60 minutes, this is the way to go. You will suck wind, you will sweat through your entire shirt, but you will get better and your butt will start to get used to it. Just be forwarned, the first time you go, you will promise yourself you will never go again. :)

Happy Birthday to Deaner!

I am so glad that it is finally Friday! I don't think I could have taken another day in the office. It certainly hasn't been my worst week of work ever (there have been FAR worse) but I feel like it has really gone by slowly. I think that now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with my job it is going to drag out until the end of March. I will miss having my own paycheck but I will NOT miss my job. At all. Ever.

So, tomorrow is Deaner's 32nd birthday! Happy birthday feee-yaaan-say! I will buy you one of these big beers tomorrow! Well, maybe not, I'm not quite sure where we might find those beers in Atlanta. I think they are reserved for the tackiest place on earth, Helen, GA. And they would probably cost $35 here instead of $6!

I have always heard people with December/January birthdays complain that it stinks to have a birthday so close to Christmas. Let me tell you what, it is MUCH harder on the poor people who love you and want to give you gifts for each occasion! Last year I went overboard on Christmas and come January 10th I didn't have one thing to give Deaner for his birthday. Zilch. I felt awful and was determined that this was not going to happen this year. As I stood back and gazed at my beatifully wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree this year it dawned on me that I did it again. I did not hold back one thing to give Deaner for his birthday! I am thinking that we might have to appoint a date sometime in July and give Deaner a new birthday. Think he will mind?

Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised this year when I inquired what he would like for his birthday and I actually got an answer. Typically I would get some hemming and hawing about how I didn't have to get him anything. This year I got an e-mail response stating there was a particular computer game he wanted and he even provided a link for me with a COUPON. Done and done. I ordered that thing so fast and never thought about it again. I am now realizing that I might have been tricked. I think that Deaner might have anticipated that I would purchase the first thing he asked for without taking a moment to figure out what it really was. He was right and I think I have "been had".

On Christmas Eve this year I was at my parent's house and engaged in a conversation with my sister, brother, and future brother-in-law. Someone casually asked me what I had gotten for Deaner for his upcoming birthday and I responded with "just some stupid computer game he wanted". My 19 year old brother, who doesn't speak much, looked at me funny and asked which particular computer game. Uhhhh, something called World of Warcraft I think. From the response I got, I have clearly been living under a rock. My brother fell on the floor laughing and my future brother-in-law, Andy, slowly muttered, "oh my god". WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL? I explained that Deaner had mentioned something about getting an XBox but that I was never planning on spending that much on a birthday gift. My brother looked at me and said "take it back and get him the XBox, you will be glad you did". My brother went on to tell me that he too used to play Warcraft and that when he got it he did not get out of the computer chair for ONE YEAR. Andy informed me that the most recent article he had read was entitled "If You Don't Want Your Teenage Boys Having Sex, Buy Them World of Warcraft". My brother offered to "sell" me his "weapons" for CASH. Who has ever heard of a computer game where you can buy imaginary weapons for real money?

So here we are, on the eve of Deaner's 32nd birthday, and I am about to lose him to the 9 MILLION teenaged boys who play this game online. How was I supposed to know? My only hope is that his 32 year old mind will grow weary more quickly than the mind of a 16 year old. I swear if I see him wearing a headset, I am pulling the plug...

And then there were 6.....

I lost my first follower today! It is sort of sad when you only had 7 to begin with but I think I am going to get past it! It just baffles me that there could be someone who wouldn't want to follow this incredibly interesting, hilarious, well written, work of art! Just teasing. I am hoping that most new bloggers go through what I am going through in that they want to check their blogs all day long to see if there have been any hits on their page or comments left on their posts. I am definitely still in the "honeymoon" phase!

Speaking of honeymoons, I don't think that I have mentioned where Deaner and I are going on our honeymoon. We will be leaving Atlanta on the Monday after our wedding (I have a feeling we will be suffering from exhaustion after this party) and we are heading to Costa Rica for 8 days. I cannot wait. It has hardly been a harsh winter by any standard but I will be ready for some beach weather! It may have been 70 degrees today in Atlanta but you wouldn't have found any sunbathers anywhere in the city. Deaner and I don't tend to have the same taste is vacation destinations, which could have been a problem on our honeymoon, but I think that Costa Rica will satisfy both of our wants. Deaner wants the mountains and I want the beach with a book. I could stay put for hours just sitting on a beach reading in the sun. Not him. His mother must have let him fry in the sun when he was a kid because he is seriously anal about getting sunburned. In the 3 years that I have known him he has never been sunburned once but this is probably because he applies sunscreen every 30 minutes. He is that guy with a white face due to too many layers applied in a short amount of time. He would probably wear ZINC on his nose if I let him! :) Since we did his trip this summer, hiking in the southern Alps, I put my foot down about going to the beach. So, we will be spending the first 3 nights of our honeymoon in Arenal, the area at the foot of a volcano, at this hotel. We have the honeymoon villa here and we plan on hiking (well, I haven't agreed to this yet), taking the zip line canopy tour, and maybe white water rafting. Relaxing huh? From Arenal, we are heading to Tamarindo for the next 5 nights and staying at this hotel. This will be MY part of the vacation! I plan on taking several books and planting myself on the beach. The most active thing I plan on doing while here is taking a day of surf school. We have the honeymoon bungalow at this hotel too and I am really looking forward to it. I'm hopeful that we can keep Deaner's sunburn under control! :)

On a similar note, our wedding invitations went out yesterday and my phone has been ringing off the hook tonight with people telling me that they already received it! I am excited to start getting RSVP's but I am wondering if my mother's nerves can take it! Only 60 more days until the big day! I just said that out loud to Deaner and he sucked in his breath, made a shocked looking face, and then made a farting noise with his mouth. I think that is his way of telling me that he can't wait for me to be his wife!

Bad day for the Falcons, but a good day for me...

I should have known that this would happen to the Falcons. I was never a pro football fan until fantasy football and it is a good thing. The Falcons stink. They always have, and whether or not they always will, remains to be seen. I can't say that I care all that much. I think that it says something about a team when a person has lived in one city all their lives and has never once attended one of the team's games. That's right, in 28 years I have never attended one Falcon game. I would however not be opposed to seeing Matt Ryan play if someone offered me FREE tickets (hint hint). Anyways, when I woke up this morning the first thing I thought was "oh my gosh, am I late for something"? I lay in the bed frozen for a minute thinking that there was no way in hell that I had nothing scheduled and no event to attend. What a great feeling! Since it was pretty early I was able to pick up the third book in the Twilight series and read for the next hour. Definitely not my normal style of reading but that is a topic for another post. I will point out for those reading that this book has a BLACK cover and not a PASTEL cover. After some leisure reading I took a shower and met Deaner at my parents house to stuff the invitations for our wedding! How exciting is that! I happened to look at weddingchannel.com a couple days ago and it informed me that our wedding was only 66 days away! I can't believe it. It has come so quickly! And I am really really looking forward to it. I am very excited to see who will be able to come and who won't. Since there are 358 people on our guest list my mother refused to let me send out "save the date" cards. I could hardly blame her as she pointed out that we don't necessarily want people to save the date! :) It might come as a shock to some people that I am even getting married!

My sister and my mother went shopping this morning at a bridal boutique that was going out of business. To my great luck, they found the bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding at 75% off for the sample! Since it fit my sister perfectly they knew it would fit me well enough to buy it. I tried it on as soon as they got home and came out of the back bedroom to model it for everyone. My father agreed that it was a great dress, and would be even better "as soon as I got it in my real size"......Thanks so much Dad!! Too bad that is the exact dress I am going to wear in my sister's wedding! For that price, I won't eat for a week. Fine by me. My dad was really really good at putting stamps on the wedding invitations and the response cards. No opinions were requested there! :) Just teasing dad, if you read this, even Amelia and I laughed about the comment later!

After leaving my parents house it became obvious to me that it was Deaner's intention to go and watch the Falcon's game at Taco Mac. Too bad we got there 20 minutes before kickoff and the place was packed! I didn't even see that many people there for Georgia games this fall! You can always count on Atlanta to jump on the band wagon when the striking is hot. I guess I had just forgotten what it was like since it has been so long for the Falcons! Finally after waiting for an hour and a half I went up to the hostess stand to ask if we were getting closer. She told me that there was basically no shot at us getting a table until the game was over and as I was heading back to tell Deaner the bad news (I was not staying there any longer) my red blinky thing started going off! Right after being seated my sister and future brother-in-law called to see if we wanted to grab a bite to eat with them. Perfect timing! They came and joined us and the company was great. I got to assure my sister that mother had no intention of inviting 125 people to her rehearsal dinner and tell her how beautiful her wedding dress was that I had seen that afternoon. Now we are home on the couch watching Indy and San Diego battle it out. I really don't care who wins this game but I have to pull for Peyton Manning just because he is Eli's brother. I bet that most people never would have put loyalty in that order! :)

The best part of the day is that tomorrow will start off just the same! For the life of me, I don't think we have any obligations tomorrow either! I will be free to read my vampire book all day long. I am sure I will feel a small pain in my heart when I realize that there is no fantasy game, but I am also sure I will get over it. My nerves need a rest. Since next weekend is Deaner's birthday, I suppose I need to rest up!