Hello, Tuesday!

What a wonderful week this has been already! I'm normally a Tuesday-hater but I have nothing but positivity going on right now. We have a PHENOMENAL new staff person and we are already seeing the difference in what we can get done and I am so thankful. Last night I had a wonderful and relaxing evening with FH where I made a new chicken recipe and a low sugar/low carb peanut butter cookie recipe! We shared some wine, had a great dinner and dessert and then just relaxed together. Since I haven't had any work for job #2 in about a month's time, I am SO much less stressed -- I am actually SHOCKED at how much better I feel.

I want to give a hat tip to FH today. He is phenomenal about helping out around the house. For example, while I'm at work today, he's seeing that the trash is taken out. Last night he helped set the table and put away the clean dishes after my culinary-fest. Even better yet, he's been doing SO MUCH to stay involved and be helpful. I'm so used to taking on big tasks by myself that when I make decisions I often forget to tell him. He's very forgiving of those little mistakes, and he always backs me up, but I need to do a better job of keeping him posted while my mind runs like a hamster in a wheel. I've done all the research on the photographers and potential florists I'd consider using for the wedding, but he's making the dozens of phone calls to screen them first! Once we narrow down who we like and who is in our price range, we can meet in person to discuss. I feel so relieved and so excited to have such an involved groom and it's so nice not to feel like I have to handle all this alone!

Hope everyone's week is going well!

Into 2010 with 300 days to go!

It's hard to believe we're already into 2010. I am enjoying some family time with my dad's side of the family in snowy, windy Hometown, PA. Trying to decide on my new year's resolutions (I'm a big believer in not making grandiose committments to ultra-strict goals) included some of the usual ones: spending more time reading, cooking more, and spending more time writing/blogging. I think the blogging will go hand in hand in the impending wedding planning. Helpfully, theKnot reminded me this morning of my 153 tasks to go!

Stay updated here on more of my adventures in wedding planning for the next 300 days!

Wedding Expo 1

As someone never really "sold" (until I met Adrian, of course) on marriage, the fact that I attended a bridal expo today conjured some odd feelings today; mainly that I'm a sellout.

With my mom (an awesome teammate and wonderful person to have in my corner) and her best friend (or, BFF as she calls herself) in tow, we walked the few sunny blocks to the bridal expo.

I felt overwhelmed the moment I walked in! It's uncomfortable to have dozens of strangers "congratulate" you because their well-wishing is so dishonest; most of them are seeing dollar signs -- not your ring or your beautiful (future) wedding gown. I spent one hour on both floors, picked up lots of information and spoke to a few people. My main objective was to find a ceremony site, reception site, and photographer. What a tall order!

I found one great woman hoping to do a wedding photography start up, a few great bridal shops (so NOT on my radar), zero ceremony sites, and one or two reception sites to check into. As good as it was for an information gathering mission, I was not moved by the wedding industry -- and yes, it is an industry.

I reviewed the information I gathered and organized it tonight. Thank you KJZJ for making me that AWESOME wedding binder -- I'd lose my mind without it. Adrian and I went through the high points tonight and it was so great to have him there with me, sharing thoughts, giving input, and hearing what he thought were good ideas. I kept hearing him say that he didn't need to be involved in decision-making, that it was "my day", etc. but I should have known better. Adrian is so attentive and involved in our everyday lives, I should have known he'd be just as intimately engaged (no pun intended) -- and I'm so thankful for that!

Planning begins!

I can't believe that I've been engaged two weeks and have been asked at least 50 times when the date is! As much as I would love to have that nailed down by now, there are a lot of other things that need to be determined first. My succession of wedding planning is as follows:

Proposal: check
Finalizing budget (after crunching our numbers and talking to our families): check
Finalizing guest list (98% done - at least gives us our ballpark number of capacity needed): check
Reception site: In progress
Ceremony site: In progress
Photographer: In progress

Not bad for two weeks! Luckily the guest list has been floating between Adrian and I for a few months, so it wasn't something that had to be built from the ground up. I also checked out the dates/times for some upcoming bridal shows, so hopefully I can get some of the other details taken care of then! Happy Birthday goes out to my future FIL today as well!