Halloween part 2

I no longer like Halloween. We didn't get a single kid to our door. That made me sad. I bought so much candy. So much good candy.

Halloween....

I love to decorate. I haven't really had a place that I could decorate myself. My parents house is done by my mom. I figured since this will be my house in 15 days that I could say it was my house and put some SCARY decorations up. Not bad for $2.50 total. Patch in some sound effects I found online in a wave file I think we did pretty good for ourselves.

Really funny....from the Today show

Confessions of a bad wedding guest

A woman reflects on the ‘rules’ she broke and her naughty deeds

By Zibby Right at Brides.com

updated 4:10 p.m. ET, Wed., Sept. 17, 2008

Last month, on a flight to a friend's wedding in Chicago, I sat next to someone even more clueless about weddings than I was: one of my fellow bridesmaids.

“I bought these great open-toed sandals,” she cooed. “They match the dress perfectly! How about you?”

Hmm, didn't she get the e-mail from the bride insisting we wear closed-toe pumps? Turns out she hadn't gotten her dress altered either ("It'll be fine!"). Plus she'd forgotten to RSVP to some of the wedding-weekend events. And she was shocked to hear that I'd gone to the trouble of preparing a toast for the rehearsal dinner. In short, she was a disaster. But I had to smile. She was just like I used to be.

Before I got engaged last May, I'd broken every rule of wedding thoughtfulness. It wasn't that I didn't care about the bride and groom or that having good manners wasn't important to me. I consider myself a caring friend: I send thank-you notes promptly, I never show up to a housewarming empty-handed. But somehow, the world of proper wedding behavior had eluded me.

It wasn't until I started receiving piles of lovely engagement presents (before we'd even decided to have an engagement party) that I realized I should have given some myself. And it wasn't until my own bridal shower, when friends who couldn't attend made sure they still had gifts waiting for me at the hostess' home, that I learned I should've done so, too. I'd actually arrived at one friend's "game theme" shower with a waffle maker. She'd opened it, paused, and politely said, “Well, this will be a lot of fun to play with.”

I never bought off the registry, reasoning that personal gifts like, say, monogrammed robes, were more exciting than china. "What an original idea," brides would write in their thank-you notes. Now, after spending hours selecting items for my own registry, I find myself slightly miffed when guests don't use it. Why do they think I've gone to all that trouble? And that idea that it's acceptable to send gifts up to a year afterward? No one told me that, though technically acceptable, procrastinating until months after the wedding is disappointing for the bride and groom.

Occasionally, I'd forget to send in the response card until the bride's mother followed up. At the time, I didn't see the big deal. After all, I'd told the bride a million times I was coming! Now, after eagerly awaiting the mail each day so I can tear open those little cards and begin table arrangements, I marvel at my thoughtlessness. With the wedding a month away, I can't remember my vows, let alone which friends told me what. And when guests ask to bring dates, I bristle. Our numbers are so tight I couldn't invite some of my cousins. How could I squeeze in someone's new flame? But then I recall how once, days before a wedding I was in, I begged the bride to let me bring my new boyfriend — of six weeks.

“Fine,” she snipped. “If it's really that important to you.”

I spent the entire wedding locked in his arms, neglecting my bridesmaid duties. Soon after, the boy was history, but I'm reminded of him and my poor judgment whenever I see the two of us in my friend's wedding photos.

Ultimately she got over it; perhaps she'd committed her own faux pas, too, before she was a bride. Or maybe she just preferred to focus on the ways her day was special. I'm mortified by my past behavior, but thankful that this friend and others let it all slide. And now that I'm in their position, I'm trying to do the same. Don't get me wrong: Having to e-mail guests for their RSVPs makes my blood boil. But I know that someday they'll be brides and grooms themselves and discover that there are actually pretty good reasons behind those wedding rules we've all (cluelessly) broken.

This content was written by Zibby Right and first appeared in Modern Bride magazine. For more weddings tips, visit Brides.com

URL: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26758428/

Wedding guest stress.

So the wedding is in 18 days.


Our guest list is currently sitting at 131 people. My parents are borderline angry at Daniel and I for the number of people that are coming. Right now as it stands the only people invited are family, the wedding party and the wedding party's spouses, significant other and children. That's it. We had to cut out most everyone else. I know that personally (Crystal) couldn't invite some people that I wanted to simply because of the cost involved. Daniel I know has struggled with this problem from day one. He has a lot of close friends that he has grown up with and who's wedding he has been involved with.


There is no polite way of telling people that they weren't invited. Not because they weren't wanted but simply because my parents aren't made of gold.

Reason's why I love Christmas

This is one of the many reason's why I love Christmas. I'm always on the look out for funny things like this for Daniel's grandma Nonnie.

Picnic

Daniel surprised me this weekend by taking me on a picnic to a historical site over in Mandarin. It was really nice. It was a old farm house from the late 1800's. I never even knew that there was anything like this place. I've lived here since I was in the 4th grade. It's a little farm house and barn and they have a walk way that leads to the St. Johns River. It was a nice little trip and it was relaxing. I didn't have to worry about wedding stuff. We went to Native Sun on San Jose. They have great fresh food. Most are organic and just over all good quality. We had fun and watched a few moments of the Air Show from NAS.

The only downside is that it was SOOOOO cold. We not looking at the weather before we left didn't grab a jacket and we got cold.

But I was really glad we went. Daniel is so good a surprises.


Wanna check this place out?
Mandarin Museum & Historical Society

22 day until I'm married...

 It's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that in 22 days I'm going to be getting married. It seemed so far off in the distance when we first got engaged. It was like 8 months ago. Since then we've done so much work. Weddings are work.


Every day our relationship gets better. We still have a few bumps but overal everything is amazing.

I'm not nervous yet. Not nervous about the wedding just that I'll forget something or something wont get done. I'm stressed that our guest list is growing. I'm afraid to tell my parents how many people that are invited. My new daily stress is the RSVP's. I'm down to 8 days and I still am missing 80% of them. People are telling me they are in the mail. I'm hoping to goodness nothing gets lost in the mail.

My mother and I got my mother her dress for the wedding. This will be the first time I've ever seen my mom in a semi-formal dress. She's going to look fab. FMIL got her dress and I must say the mom's are going to look classy.

I got two options for my RD dress. I'm getting them via Old Navy. I want to get them and then try them on and see which I look better in.

Next stop is the wedding programs. We are DIY'er and I found this really nice paper.


More tomorrow.

Vote NO on #2

I'm not really the one to voice my opinion on politics but something got me about this amendment. It's a amendment to make marriage between a man and a woman with "no  other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent  thereof shall be valid or recognized."

Now looking at that you'd think well that makes sense until you dig deeper. What about that couple that has been living together for  years while she's in school waiting to save up for the big dream wedding. What about the engaged couple who legal are two single people. They would be forced to give up their rights as a Domestic Partnership. 

Domestic Partnership protects people and gives them rights. It allows them to visit their love one's in the hospital. Right now if something happened to Daniel I could claim he is my Domestic Partner and visit him in the hospital, BUT if that law is passed I would have no legal rights. With this law I am a legal stranger. I would have to wait until someone in his family came, I would be alone and he would be alone waiting. Like so many other unmarried couples.


That hits home. Daniel and I aren't a gay couple. but this amendment would hurt people who aren't married. That means regardless of sex or sexual orientation.

There are other states that have passed similar laws and they found out it has far reaching effects. From hospital rights to domestic violence. For example Ohio's amendment was used as a defense against a domestic violence charge. The defendant used the amendment's strict definition of "marriage" to argue that his relationship with his longtime live-in girlfriend didn't meet the standard, and therefore no domestic violence charge was valid.

Not to mention we already have FOUR statute's on the books that ban same sex marriages.

People don't be fooled by a title that makes you feel good about a law. Learn what they are really about.




http://sayno2.com

Fish.....

So Daniel got me a game for his Wii. It's an aquarium game. Not really a game but an aquarium you can set up and watch fish swim around. It's very relaxing. Every time I come over I make him put it on in the background. It has classical music playing and then if you don't touch it for about 10 minutes it goes into this screen saver mode where it gives you close up shots of the fish. We haven't named them yet. I think Daniel's real fish gets a kick out of it. If not he thinks it's real and is mad that the tv fish have a larger tank. =).

Wedding planning is coming along. I've got like 95% of the invites out. The rest need to be printed. Then we buy the center pieces and then that's it. I'm tired of wedding planning.

Right now is a really hard part in my life. I'm thinking about leaving my current job sometime this month. It's for personal reasons. I love what I do, I love my co-workers. But there is where the love ends. I'm just really worried about starting my marriage without a job. Daniel supports me 100% and has told me that I can leave whenever I want. I know in his heart that he wishes I would finish this month out at least. I just want to leave now. I know if I just leave it up to God that he will make everything work out. I'm just really scared. Daniel has such a stronger faith than I do. He is my greatest friend and I know I can get through anything as long as Daniel is there to support me.

My mother has already started with the baby talk. She is ready to be a grandmother. I'm ready to be a mother and I know Daniel is ready to be a father. I'm just worried that I wont be able to have any. My mother (I'm adopted) couldn't have children. In the end they adopted me, but I know that it must have hurt a little to know you couldn't have children on their own. So that is another fear running around in my head. Again it's in Gods hands.

******freak out moment ahead*******

I'm getting married. I'm getting married. I'm getting married in like a month. Next month I'm getting married. Wow that's a powerful statement to make. We got our marriage license the other day. It was so funny. I was like this is it. Nothing else. Maybe we should make those harder to get. You know I had to pass a test to drive a car and all I had to do was show id and say I wasn't related to Daniel or currently married. But it doesn't matter. I'm getting married. I'm getting married. I'm not nervous just excited. We were trying to make loose plans for our honeymoon. A friend of the family is loaning us their cabin in NC for the week. It's going to be so nice. To wake up knowing that I've got nothing that needs to be done. No plans other than have a relaxing week. Hike, and cuddle and walk into town and get some food in the towns store on Main St. I'm taking my painting set with me and you better expect plenty of photo's.


I'm really blessed right now. I know Daniel feels the same. We are very lucky!!!