Health Kick

Right before we got engaged, I had joined weight watchers to lose a few pounds that had made a home in my butt and thighs. I had a lost a couple pounds, but since surgery and not being able to work out, have hit a stand still and lost some motivation. I am now back to being motivated to lose the rest of the weight, especially with the thought of feeling fit for all the wedding festivities, and our honeymoon!

Even though I had been on a health kick, Ian really couldn't be bothered to eat healthier or work out. He was fully supportive of me and my intentions though. He is one of those guys that eats just about anything he wants and is still thin. I am jealous of his metabolism. Well, after seeing the picture (that I posted on Monday) of him with his parents, he has since become a bit motivated to get back in shape.

Monday we went grocery shopping and we did a major health food shopping trip. We purchased lots of fruits, veggies, yogurt, kashi cereals, oatmeal, ground turkey instead of beef, soy crisps (have you seen these - they taste pretty good and have a ton of protein in them and are really low calorie - perfect snack), veggie burgers, etc. He has even decided that eating breakfast would be a good thing.

So here is my goal - I would like to get back to fitting into my clothes comfortably (right now all of my pants are TIGHT!). I think this will require me losing about 8 pounds. The problem is, my upper body is so small in comparison to my lower half. If I lose too much, my upper body starts looking a little too bone-y. So- that is my goal! That's totally doable!

To get my goal started, I've called our landlord because our key to the gym no longer works. I'm waiting to get the new key so that I can start riding the exercise bike (I'm not allowed to run or do the elliptical yet because of the ankle). I also have been bringing 2 fruits to work to eat as my snacks so that I stay away from unhealthy foods that are laying around the office. I've upped my protein and fiber intake which also just happens to mean, less calories (because most foods that have higher protein and fiber are healthier in general).

Did anyone else go through a similar motivation before getting married? How are some ways that you find a way to fit in workout time? Give me some more motivation!

Italian food makes me happy

Weekend Recap:

Friday night I went to Fiore for a consult. What I liked: how b-e-a-utiful the flowers were. I went through pictures of bouquets and found a bouquet I absolutely love! I'm even making an exception because this bouquest has calla lillies in it and I was really hoping to not use any calla lillies. But I like the bouquet so much that I'm willing to have them in it. Here's the picture:

My one negative about this florist was that the woman didn't seem very knowledgeable. My mom used to work in a florist shop so she knows her flowers, and after we went through the vision we have for the wedding and showed pictures of certain things I like and dislike, the woman was having trouble naming off flowers she could use - it was more like my mom was suggesting them and the woman was agreeing. Once the flowers were named off, then she was great in showing me samples of each type. She was so sweet but just seemed like she was a new worker there who might not have had a ton of consults before. We'll have to see what her proposal comes in at and then make a decision.

After the florist, I raced home to meet the boy and his best man, James to go to Men's Warehouse to pick the tuxes, have the boy try on the tuxes, get James measured and get everything ordered. Here is the tux:

It's a three-button tux but his will be without a vest, only with a tie and black suspenders! He will be wearing a light silver tie and the groomsmen will be wearing black ties.

We basically ate Italian food the entire weekend. I think the cold makes me crave some hearty italian food, especially pasta. After picking tuxes, we went to Olazzo for dinner. It was quite yummy!

Saturday, we had dinner with my future in-laws at Cesco Trattoria in Bethesda (they don't have a website) and I had a fantastic entree - whole grilled turbo in sea salt. I wish I had a picture of it - it was amazing. Here's a couple pictures of us at dinner:

Yesterday, we spent the day at the Bridal Showcase at the Dulles Expo Center. And I mean "we" as in my mom, me and the boy! Once he heard that there would be food and cake samples he was all about joining us. But let me tell you, it was INSANE! I don't do well in malls because of getting quite claustrophobic, hot, overwhelmed by the people (and thinking about the germs), and it was like 100 times worse there. But I sucked it up and hurried through and tried to enjoy the fun things like trying cakes! I walked away with what I think I will be ordering for my invitations, and a cake that the boy, my mom and I all LOVED! I have to look up the name to post it and find the invitation picture to post it. I was exhausted by the end of the show but was thrilled to have possibly found these two vendors and be able to cross these things off my list! The boy did very well until about the last 1/2 hour. We were there for a total of 3 hours so I think he did quite well. The last 45 minutes his eyes were glazed over and when I'd turn and look for him and call his name, he'd kind of look at me slowly and then walk over to me in a daze. It was good husband-training for him I think - he even carried the bag of goodies we collected along the way and my purse after awhile!

Last night we watched Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. I am a huge Harry Potter fan (more so of the books) but have to admit that this movie was not as good as the other ones. How did you feel about it?

I am sad to say it's Monday and I'm back at work, already looking forward to the next weekend!

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

I woke up this morning sad and angry at the boy. I had one of those dreams where you don't know whether it's real or not. It was in fact a dream (thank goodness!) - it was a terrible dream that we were at a party and we were getting ready to leave but had to wait for Bridget (one of my bridesmaids who's a newlywed!) to finish playing some drinking game. In the dream, the boy and I are chatting and then he said "Be right back" and he goes and lays down next to Bridget and starts flirting with her, touching her arm, almost spooning her. Jerk! I told him the story and he just laughed. He has been having lots of "cheating" like dreams recently - of me cheating in about 2 of them, and he cheated on me in one of his. Should I be worried? Are these dreams supposed to be telling me that we both are huge cheating sluts?!!?! I kid I kid. I've heard that it's normal to have some crazy dreams in the months leading up to your wedding. Besides, I have faith that whatever issues that might arise in our marriage, cheating won't be one of them.

Tonight, I am going to Fiore Floral with my mom to talk about flowers. My boss's mother passed away a couple years back and I ordered flowers with my team from this florist and everyone RAVED about the flowers. It used to be called Kabloom (there are a few of these florists in the Maryland area). If they come up with some ideas that are anything as beautiful as the bouquets have been before, I'll be thrilled. I'll have a review on Monday.

Ian's best man James is coming down to do tuxes and dinner and drinks with us tonight. We're going to Men's Warehouse to finalize the tuxes. Then we're heading out to dinner and grabbing some drinks in Bethesda.

Have a great weekend!

Florist Meeting in Review

I am back to work and feeling a whole lot better - the antibiotics must be working well.

My Mom met with Petal's Edge while I was sick to get a preliminary estimate for flowers I'm looking to have. I sent my mom with lots of printed photos of things I like, specific flowers I do not want (no calla lillies - they're overused at the moment), centerpiece ideas, bouquet likes and dislikes, etc. I also made notes in each picture of what exactly I liked about it (color, shape, style, arrangement, etc.). The florist took it and ran with it and sent us a proposal. She thanked me for being so specific because she got such a clear picture of my vision (which to me, is hard to put into words - I just know when looking at a picture whether I like it - but typically can't describe the overall vision). I highly recommend anyone about to go through this process to take as much "research" with you so the florist gets specific ideas for you.

Her ideas were perfect! And the estimate comes in RIGHT on budget. We may or may not use everything she has on the estimate (as we included some ceremony flowers that we might not use). I was hoping to come in a bit under budget for our flowers to make up for being over budget on our photographer. My mom is meeting with 2 other florists and then we'll make a decision. But so far, so good!

I haven't mentioned poor Heath Ledger. I think everyone is a bit shocked and inundated with information coming in on what exactly happened to him. I have to say I'm sad his death. I remember him from his days in 10 Things I Hate About You (and I have to admit, I had a huge crush on him in my high school days). He just seemed like a rather genuine, down-to-earth guy who happened to be very handsome. And the pictures of him with his daughter, Matilda, simply break my heart. It's clear that he loved her so much. I think the pictures of him carrying her on his shoulders really get me. It's such a fatherly thing to do when your kids are little - make them feel so important like they're on top of the world. It's extremely sad that she won't grow up with her Dad in her life. I can't imagine that - especially growing up where I'll see him often in movies he performed in. Maybe that's a good thing? Either way, my heart goes out to that little girl who hasn't even realized what exactly has happened.

Feeling Sicky

I have been in bed with a fever since Saturday morning. I went to the doctor this morning and have a sinus infection and bronchitis. Yuck! Hopefully in 48 hours I'll be feeling a lot better. Because of being sick, it was a movie weekend!


Movie Review:

• Happy Feet: I LOVED this movie. It made me happy. Part of it may be because I tapped all the way through college. But I just loved this movie:)
  
• An Affair to Remember: You hear about this movie in other movies (Sleepless in Seattle), and my Mom's generation seems to talk about it all the time. So, I made the boy watch it with me. I think it's probably to my mom's generation what The Notebook is to our generation. It was quite good but cheesy of course. But if you're a hopeless romantic, you'll love it!
  
• Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle: One of my friends from work told me I have to watch this movie. It was one of those stupid, funny movies.
  
• Ratatouille: Loved this movie as well! It was slightly disturbing that you end up falling in love with this character - a rat. But otherwise - loved it!

I got out of bed yesterday to go to my first makeup trial. This was at the Andre Chreky Salon and the unique thing was that it was airbrush makeup. What I loved: it looks extremely natural and doesn't feel like I'm wearing any makeup. I also took a nap when I came home and when I woke up, the makeup was still flawless, and none was found on my pillowcase. This confirms that people had told me that airbrush makeup stays put until you wash it off. Love it! Here is a horrible picture of my (I didn't do anything with my hair, and you can see that my cheeks and eyes are a bit swollen because of my sinuses - hopefully I won't have a sinus infection at the time of the wedding!):

The only thing I would change is adding a little more blush and a bit more upper lid makeup. What do you think? Honestly this picture makes me a little ill - my hair is pulled back so tightly and the left side of my neck is swollen. Gross!

Rehearsal Dinner Dilemma

We originally had the idea to have the rehearsal dinner at Mon Ami Gabi which is a very cute restaurant in Bethesda. It's a pretty reasonably priced place for the food you get (it's a French steakhouse) and the atmosphere. We mentioned it to the boy's parents and they were very excited. We've taken them their once and they fell in love with it. Well we went to visit it on Wednesday night and meet with their banquet manager.

We ran into a few problems. We were aware of the minimum to use the private room. It was okay as we figured we'd be spending about that much. Problem #1: it holds a maximum of 40 people. We have 41 people on the list already (and will probably end up adding a few). This includes both sets of immediate family, bridal party and significant others, and family that will be traveling for the wedding. Do we need to include anyone else? Even if we don't - we are still over the maximum. Problem #2: we can reserve the private room from 5-8pm or 8:30-close. Well, our rehearsal at the chapel is at 5pm. By the time we get there and park, it'll be about 6:30ish. That leaves us 1.5 hours for 40-50 people to eat. Not going to happen. If we blocked it for a different time, the minimum would almost double! Problem #3: there is no discount on valet parking. Bethesda on a Friday night is a madhouse so we'd certainly need to valet park. While it's not outrageously expensive, it's still another cost that we wouldn't want people to incur.

So there you have it - just too many problems with it. My future in-laws are not very familiar with how rehearsal dinners work (it's only an American tradition). So they are giving it to us to handle organizing it. I flat out told the boy that I have enough on my plate planning the wedding so that he can take care of the rehearsal dinner. So far - he hasn't had much luck finding places that aren't ridiculously expensive. Any ideas? We now are thinking it's a better idea to find a place near the hotel so that people don't have to worry about driving. We also were thinking that a family style italian dinner or mexican fiesta night would be great. I'm desperate for ideas!

Another idea is to have the rehearsal dinner at Prep. Prep has a room in a new building that can hold about 100 people (which would be great that we'd have no limit on guests). The boy is looking into the catering there as we'd have to use Prep's caterer. The only bad thing about having it here is that it's a terribly boring room (we'd have to do flowers and decorate and the whole shabang), and we like the idea of people seeing Prep for the first time for the wedding instead of at the rehearsal dinner.

Where did you have your rehearsal dinner? If anyone wants to offer up their home for me to cater the food to that would be fantastic also ha. I kid, I kid!

First Wedding Present

I just got a call from my mom and our first wedding present has arrived at her house (presents are being shipped there because I don't want boxes left at our door)!!! It's from my mom's next door neighbor (she told my mom to expect a box to arrive). YAYYYYY! And I must add - she is on top of things considering we're still 5 months out and she's already bought the gift - I'm impressed!

Giddy Bride

I left work early today to go meet with the ceremony coordinator and music director at Prep. I was anxious to meet with him as he had been quite difficult to get in touch with and get answers from. I needed information on pre-cana, their requirements, how early we get into the church, photographer restrictions, and so on.


First of all, for those of you who don't know Prep, it is like a mini college campus. It's on about 90 acres in North Bethesda and the buildings are beautiful. We walked around before we went into the meeting and I just felt at peace there. I remember playing underneath the bleachers while my brother's soccer game was going on. I've been in many of the buildings dozens of times. I remember playing in the quad on a day I went to work with my mom. We walked into the building where we were meeting with Tony, and I immediately saw my brother's graduation picture in the hallway of the building. We were waiting in the hallway and a very close family friend walked through the hallway (he is a teacher there) and we got caught up talking while we waited.


We then met with Tony and I was totally put at ease. He was fantastic and answered all of my questions, plus some. He gave us a book full of useful information to help us start planning the ceremony. It has program examples, possible readings, possible songs, seating arrangements. I found myself getting more and more excited the more we chatted. I was finally that giddy bride!


I would've thought that the giddiness would come over planning the reception. But for some reason, talking about the possibilities for music, soloists, readings, how our other friends can participate, etc., gave me such excitement.


He then gave us a tour of where the girls will wait beforehand, where the guys will wait, the bathrooms for the guests, the chapel, where the musicians will be, a beautiful balcony where photographers can take photos. He showed us how they will shut the enormous doors leading into the church after the matron-of-honor enters the church and then when the bride's music starts they will have two people open both doors for me to enter. He showed us the possibilites of where Ian and I will sit during the ceremony.


I left there with the biggest smile on my face and Ian turned and was like "you've got that glow". I'm not sure what it was about being there, maybe it was that I feel such comfort there, or going through the motions and imagining us there on our wedding day. Either way - I'm getting excited that we have 5 months until the big day:) And here's a picture we took when the boy's brother was in town. It's of us in front of the chapel.

Siesta

Last night, we went to Butterfield 9 for DC's restaurant week. I love restaurant week as I think it's a very economical way to try out some higher priced restaurants. I got a salad to start, roasted chicken for the entree, and a pistachio pudding cake for dessert. The chicken and dessert were awesome! I think the regular menu food is overpriced - but for restaurant week is was yummy. Just a note - the food is very rich. Even my salad and chicken tasted rich.

Our reservation was at 7:30 and even though we got there before 7, they were so packed that we weren't seated until after 7:30. It made me realize that going into DC for a nice dinner makes for getting home later than I'd like to. We got home at around 10, but by the time you do all the "getting ready for bed" stuff (walking the dog, getting the mail, sorting the mail, read note from dogwalker, brush teeth, wash face, etc.), we didn't get to bed until 11:30 or 12. Then this morning, I got up at 5:45 because I had physical therapy at 7:15. Why I ever scheduled appointments that early, I don't know!

But my exhaustion got me to thinking - where did naptime go? I miss the days in college of going out until 2-3am, going to a 9 am class and classes throughout the day, then coming back for a nap and then going back out to start the whole process over again. It's amazing how quickly your body changes - my body was telling me this morning that if I want to get up at 5:45, I better be asleep by 9 - maybe 10 the night before.

The hubby-to-be (HTB) always talks about how his body can't handle drinking anymore. If he has more than a few beers, he'll be hurting the next day. I sometimes feel tired the next day if I have had more than one drink the night before.

Some might think it's our bodies way of telling us to slow down. But personally, I think the big difference is the naptime! I partied more in my four months in Spain than I did in any college year. It's not to say I didn't drink or party in college, but rather to say how crazy of a time Spain was. We probably went out on average, 6 nights per week. And in Spain, you party until about 3-4am. But your body could recover because of siesta time! Contrary to most thinking, siestas are not used by the Spaniards to take naps. They use this time to have their biggest meal of the day and spend time with the family. However, all the Americans used this time not in the traditional way, but rather to recover from our nights out drinking. As much as I'd like for siestas to become a practice in the US, I somehow think that if I want my siesta, I'm going to have to venture back to Espana.

It's So Official

Now that the STDs are out and we've been hearing that people have received them, things seem right around the corner! It's hard to believe we're right about 5 months away now:) Here is the STD we sent out (and if you haven't received it - you probably should in the next day or so). We're excited to use the picture Kim and Jeremy took - we love it! And Lauren's design is perfect:)





Friday night we went to La Panetteria Ristorante Italiano in Bethesda for some old-fashioned italian. It was so delicious and very well priced! Check it out (on Cordell across from Caddie's). I'd post their website but they don't have one. Try the Tortellini with Amore sauce - delicious.


Saturday morning, I met Maggie and Abby for breakfast and then Abby and I went to our Cookie Decorating class at L Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda. I cannot rave enough about it. We had the best time! Here's a picture of the two of us as chefs:


Saturday evening, we babysat for a friend from work. Her little boy is 6 months old and too cute. I wish I had taken some pictures!


Yesterday was a hectic day! We were out running errands and finishing our registry for 7 hours. I am happy to say that we're finished except for adding the rest of our bathroom decor choices (towels and accessories). We had the hardest time with three items: bedding, everyday dishes, and shower curtain/bathroom decor. It's not even that we had trouble agreeing on things - but more so that we had trouble finding anything that we really loved. There was some disagreeing on the bedding pattern - Ian likes manly bachelor-pad-looking patterns that although are nice, are also very dark and too modern for me. He likes things that are dark brown or gray and very modern, clean lines. I like lighter, more girly with some type of pattern but not too flowery. After 6 hours, we went to Crate and Barrel to pick dishes AGAIN and came across our bedding that we both like!! Here it is:)


Registering for the most part was somewhat fun. It's only after you've been to the stores for the umptieth time that it becomes not-so-much fun, and becomes stressful. You see, I HATE malls. I like finding things and spending money, but actually being in the mall I find excruciating. Most husbands would probably like this because it means less time spent in malls for them as well. But Ian is a big shopper - he could shop for 12 straight hours go to sleep and do it again the next day. I get claustrophobic, hot, very moody, hungry, achy, thirsty, and probably more than anything - my germaphobic tendencies start making me panic. I do much better shopping at outlets, for instance, because in between stores I am able to be out in the fresh air away from all the germs and people. Because of this, it makes the whole registering part more of a chore than it should be. Ian loved registering (until the stressful part of not being able to find anything we life).


Anyways - after 7 hours of malls, I was cranky and exhausted. I think I'm actually still recovering!


We also watched The Birds this weekend. I had watched it when I was in 6th or 7th grade and I remember being so scared. Ian hadn't seen it and wanted to so we watched it this weekend. For some reason, I didn't find it scary this time - and I'm a weenie about any type of horror movies. Ian found it hilarious actually. Oh well - still worth seeing as I can see that at the time it was made, it was probably very scary!

STDs are Mailed Out!

I realized I hadn't explained how many schools I had applied to - 21. The reason for this is that it's extremely common to get a ton of fee waivers. Of the 21, I think I only had to pay for about 12 of them. And the way law school applications work, you fill out one application online through a service, then it fills in this information into every single school's application. You check over each application afterwards to make sure it's all filled out correctly, attach one personal essay electronically for each school (it's the same one for each school), attach your resume electronically, hit the submit button. It charges your credit card and voila, you're all done! It really has made me feel old considering how different the application process was for colleges - maybe it's still the same? Not so sure.

I heard from another school - University of Miami - accepted. 4 down - 17 more to go!

I finished addressing the last few STDs last night (minus about 5 that I'm still waiting on). The boy put them in the mail on his way to work this morning!! YAYYYYYYY!!!

I planned a date night for tonight. Not sure if we'll end up having it because I have a yucky cold that the boy gave me. I left the evening's events a surprise until this morning. The plan is to go to 2 Amys Pizza then go to see Juno.

Tomorrow morning I am taking Abby (my junior bridesmaid) to take a cookie decorating class at L Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda. She's 12 years old and has become quite the little chef. For Christmas, I searched for something we could do that involves cooking and found the cookie decorating class that is for parents/children (I'm acting as if I were her parent). Hopefully we'll be bringing home some yummy cookies. I'll try to take pictures!

Miles Fiasco

I have been getting a ton of mileage credit card offers from a specific airline over the last couple years - you know, the credit cards that for every dollar you spend, you get a mile. Shortly after getting engaged, I decided to accept one of these offers to put our wedding expenses on so that we could earn miles for our honeymoon. Also, it was perfect timing because the miles I already had were going to expire on December 31 (and opening the CC would allow me to keep them). Score!

So - I applied for the CC in early November. They responded within a couple weeks asking for two pieces of information - a copy of my social security card, and proof of address. I was a little weirded out by being asked for the copy of my social, but figured it's because all of my mail still goes to my mom's house and I applied for the CC under the apartment address. I submitted all the info within the requested timeframe.

As of yesterday, I still hadn't heard anything or received anything in the mail. I called and talked to someone and they looked up my information and apparently my application had fallen through the cracks. He apologized and explained that it should not have taken this long. He approved it and now my card is in the mail.

I asked if my miles could be somehow given back to me since it should've been approved before the 31st. They told me to write a letter to a specific department and that it will be looked into. I'm peeved! It's not like it was THAT many miles - 11,000 miles. I wrote my letter and faxed it over yesterday and am waiting to hear back. I'm irritated because they clearly stated that they had messed up somehow in taking so long to approve my application, and the only reason it finally was taken care of was because I called them?! Not good business!

Anyways - I'm waiting to hear back about this and am hoping they will somehow rectify the situation. In the meantime, I'm waiting for the CC to get here so I can start earning some miles!

We watched SuperBad last night and surprisingly, it was hilarious! I had heard people rave about it even though it didn't do so well in the theaters. It was more vulgar than expected, and I found myself turning to the boy to ask "is that how guys really talk?". Ha!

I also got my first rejection letter - George Mason University. It wasn't a top choice but it concerns me more than a little bit. You see, it's ranked 34th, and a few schools that are my top choices are ranked 36th. The boy and my family reminded me that we have no idea what each school is looking for. It also confirms that the higher ranked schools that I applied to are very high "reach" schools. Oh well - I've heard from 3, waiting for 18 more!

The Winner is: Greece!

We're going to Greece, we're going to Greece!! We got information from our travel agent for Croatia, Hawaii and a few other places (in addition to already receiving info on Greece). We ruled out Croatia because of the cost for flights. So we narrowed down to Hawaii and Greece. Greece is the winner!! We figured we don't get to go overseas very often so we want to take advantage of it. We're now working out the detailed flight info and will most likely have a direct flight from Philadelphia to Athens. Then, the exciting part is figuring out our hotels and activites in each city (Athens, Crete and Santorini). SO excited!!


I'm ready for the STDs to go out - but every time I think they're ready we manage to get one more address. So I keep waiting until we have every person accounted for. Our guest list also keeps changing. Is this normal? We decided to cut a few people just to make our party a bit more intimate. My mom is worried about hurting some of her friends feelings. I grew up in a large neighborhood, Flower Valley, and my mom is friends with a lot of people there. She regularly meets them for dinner, drinks, whatever. The big dilemma is that we're inviting some of these neighborhood friends, but leaving some of them off the list. Reason: I am not close with them or haven't seen some of them since like high school or something. I think it makes sense - and if I offend them, oh well - they should understand! And Mom - if they ever ask you about it you can blame me - it's not like I see them anyways!


My mom took care of booking the two buses - one for all of our attendants (13 all together), Ian's parents and the other for all guests staying at the hotel. I'm asking guests to let me know if they're planning on taking the bus because we'll need to upgrade to a different bus depending on how many peeps are taking it.


Lewis is taking care of calling different makeup artists and getting pricing on that. I've been in contact with a couple and have not been completely satisfied with pictures of some brides they've worked with. So Lewis is taking care of the research to find some more!! Yay!


My mom contacted a lighting guy to possibly do lighting for our reception. I had heard from everyone about how cheap it is to do this but holy moly, it's not cheap at all! It would come out to be about 5% of our budget - that's a lot for just a little lighting! We might end up scratching this idea because it's money that could be used elsewhere (or saved). What do you think? Will the lighting really make that much of a difference? Here are some pictures of what it would look like with lighting: The Westin Grand Photo Gallery. Also, here is a fellow Westin Grand bride who used the lighting company we talked with:


It looks so pretty with the lighting! Ahhh I can't decide!

Movie Reviews

I forgot to mention in my previous post my reviews of two movies we watched this weekend - so here's my 2nd post of the day!

• The Bridge - This documentary was very well done and we found it extremely intriguing. Basically, it documents many people committing suicide off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and interviews their friends, family and those who witnessed the jumps. It is slightly depressing - but what I found very interesting was the response the families had - they were almost relieved, and made it seem almost like it was the destiny for these men and women. I would say it's worth seeing.
• The Bourne Ultimatum - Like the rest of the Bourne movies, it was packed with adventure, fights, and loved it. Not as good as the first one, but totally worth seeing.

I'm ready for some good movies. We're about to receive Superbad. Any other good movies out there? Any good books you're reading?

Phone Phobia and DJ Done!

We met with the DJ from Chris Laich's company and Chris himself on Saturday. They both are really nice and what we love about them is their forwardness about price (as some other companies had some hidden costs) and the fact that they were so professional. You'd never guess these two guys were DJs. One of them looks like a dorky businessman and our DJ looks a little like a body guard or something.

I had only one compaint about them (which is better than how many complaints I had about other DJs we met with). They charge extra for extra speakers our location needs - $100 PER speaker. After discussing this we went onto talking about other stuff, but I interrupted and asked "I hope you don't mind, but why $100 per speaker?". I honestly don't think he had ever been asked this question. If he had, he should come up with a better answer. His answer was that it's more work for the DJ because it takes an extra 15 minutes per speaker to set up and take down. But meanwhile, earlier in the meeting he had said that one thing that sets them apart from some other companies is that they do not charge for their drive time, set-up or take-down time. I could understand that adding 2-3 more speakers would add more work and they are nicer speakers because they're wireless. But I think his explanation was not very well thought-through. My feeling is that they should charge an overall extra fee (like $100 total - not PER speaker). I shouldn't be paying $100 per 15 minutes that it takes our DJ to set up the 2-3 extra speakers!!

Despite our one complaint, I am happy to say that I've emailed him this morning to get the contract signed. DJ DONE:) I also was excited to see that in the new Washingtonian, Chris was voted the #1 DJ in the DC area.

Onto the title of my post. On several occasions, I've asked Ian to call someone (dogwalker, cable company, or more recently, possible wedding vendors and calling certain friends to get their mailing addresses). He inevitably takes his sweet precious time making these phone calls. After asking for about 3 weeks for him to call people for their mailing addresses, I finally got a tad frustrated with the procrastination. He won't even call his own hair place to make an appointment for a haircut (I have taken this over for him).

I finally talked to him about it last night to see what the deal is. He has a serious case of Phone Phobia. I looked up some information on it and it's not terribly uncommon. There are various causes of this phobia, but in Ian's case, he gets very anxious about calling all people except me, his parents and his brother. Otherwise, he must prepare for the call mentally by thinking of EXACTLY what he wants to say, questions he wants to ask, and prepare for questions that might be asked of him, or comments that are said to him. He said it's an issue for him because he's afraid people can't understand him, or that on several occasions, he has trouble understanding people over the phone because of the accent difference. His accent is not THAT different, but I am guessing his accent was much more accentuated when he first moved to the states, and that he probably developed this phobia when he first moved here (12 years ago). He mentioned that Kim has this phobia, but anyone else hate making phone calls or answering unknown numbers? Sorry to call you out Kim, but what is yours like? I am trying to find out information about it because I find it so ODD!! And the selfish part of me would love to find a solution so that I don't have to make his phone calls or call all these vendors!

"Me" Time

I was boyless last night (Ian went to Baltimore to have one last dinner with his brother and parents before his brother goes back to France). I didn't want to go because then we'd have to bring Tessa with us and by the time we'd eat dinner (dinners with his family are always pretty long) and get home, it'd be about 12. So I made my own plans with Julie.

Julie's husband was out of town so we made plans to order takeout, play with her 6-month-old little boy, Matthew, and watch what was supposed to be a new Grey's. We're all excited and she put Matthew to bed and we get all comfy on the couch with Chloe, her dog. Grey's starts, and it's a repeat. What is that about?! They had advertised that it was going to be new! AND it said on the website that it was new. We got totally bummed out since we had made a night out of watching it! We know that they only have one more new show (because of the writer's strike) so maybe they are holding out to use it when they really need it? Not sure.

I came across Marriage-101 through Kim's blog and am loving it. She talks about the subject of still having your own life after getting married in one of her first posts. This leads me to say that even though our night was so relaxed and nothing major, it made me realize how important it is for me to take time away from wedding drama, and from the boy. When I finally got home, Ian wasn't home yet and I couldn't wait for him to get home. Not that I would consider a couple hours doing my own thing, "distance", but does distance really make the heart grow fonder? I think it certainly lets me take a step back and give me time to realize that I miss him. It also reminds me that it's important to have my own life. It breaks up the normal routine. I guess I need to start setting aside some time per week just for myself, to do what I want and be on my own. With all of the wedding planning, I've barely spent time with my friends, and have been getting so bogged down with the stress of it. I need to take breaks once in awhile. New 2008 resolution: try to spend (at least) once per week on myself or spending quality time with Ian that is NOT wedding related.

AAA and Photo Post

I packed all of these little boxes of treats to take to work today and was late for work and flustered when I got here. I grabbed my purse, the bag with all of the treats, and walked into the building. I went to go out to grab something from Whole Foods for lunch, and no keys were found anywhere! Sure enough, they're hanging from the ignition in my car. I locking my keys in the car a lot when I first got my license. So instantly I felt like a kid again when I realized what I'd done. I called Ian and my mom to find a spare key - which is nowhere to be found either. AAA just got here and popped the lock so now I have my keys. On the bright side, it's the 3rd and not the 1st of January - that would've been a bad way to start 2008.

Last night, we went to a Wizards game. Ian and Alex have never seen a professional basketball game. Alex actually had never been to a U.S. professional sports game. I got box seats through one of our outside law firms. The guys had a fantastic time - and Alex took lots of videos to show everyone back in France. Apparently since Tony Parker is from France, the french have become very interested in the NBA. Anyways, it was a good time and here are some pictures:

Alex was excited for the free Heineken:

And there must've been something good going on here:

Hideous photo of me but the only one with me in it:

Gheorge Muresan = Andre the Giant. Look how much bigger he is sitting than everyone else!

I also forgot to mention that the guys went to look at tuxes while my brother was in town. Ian is waiting to decide on the specifics since Men's Warehouse is getting new tuxes. But, his idea is a 3-button black tux with no vest, only a tie (possibly suspenders as they are really in style right now). The groomsmen will wear black ties and Ian will wear a silver or white one. Here are some more photos:

This is Alex and this picture makes me laugh:

And Ian trying to be studly:

2008

Now that's we're in 2008, our wedding seems right around the corner!

How was your NYE? We went up to Baltimore to pick up Alex and left Tessa with Ian's parents. This was quite an ordeal, as his parents have never had a dog and have 2 cats in the house (Tessa thinks they are her toys and likes chasing them). It took us forever to go through the instructions of "if she does this - then do this", and so on.

We finally headed over to Jeremy and Kim's to celebrate Jeremy's 27th birthday and bring in the New Year. I also met Geoff - A Mental Fracture, Jamie - What Would Jamie Do and Ryan - Thoughts of Brick (let me know if I'm leaving someone off - and I THINK these are the correct blogs). I was very excited to learn that a couple of them read my blog sometimes. YAY! Leave me comments you guys!They are fellow bloggers who are friends with Kim. They are quite hilarious! The party was a lot of fun and I wish we would've gotten there earlier! We aren't the biggest NYE people so it was fun to hang out with people since normally we just sit around. Here are some photos from the evening:

Jeremy was wasted and I am sad to say I didn't get a photo of him attempting to breakdance!
This is Kim wiping her butt after she spilled her beer all over herself and it soaked into her butt. As you can see - this is the ideal party outfit because you can't even tell!

After the ball dropped:

Me, Alex and Ian (who kept blocking my face with that thingie)

No - I was not close to being drunk - just really a little too excited to be playing with their dogs ha.
Ian with Emily

We are doing another batch of STDs tomorrow or this weekend and then they'll all be sent out at once. I decided it is better to send them all at once so that people don't get them at different times. Here is the pile thus far:

I also was getting a little overwhelmed with all of the research so decided to hand over to my mom the research for flowers, cakes, shuttle buses for the bridal party and hotel guests (by the way, if you are planning on taking this bus, PLEASE let me know so I know how large of a bus to get!), and lighting. Ian also volunteered (okay maybe I told him I'd call off the entire thing if he didn't help me) to call and interview a couple DJs so that we can get that part done. I went to Bed Bath & Beyond and registered for a lot more stuff, as well as adding more to our Macy's registry.

Through all of this madness I have realized that although I once thought that I had a major bride gene, I'm learning that I don't really like it that much. Rather, I dislike the booking-the-vendors part. I don't like interviewing and making all the phone calls and emailing. But I do like organizing things once we decide and planning the fun things!

As I look ahead to 2008, it's easy for me to get overwhelmed. I am waiting for law school admission decisions, deciding on a law school, getting married, looking for new houses wherever we end up, quitting my job, moving, and starting law school. I've come up with a few resolutions to try to keep this year as fun, joyous, and sane as possible:

• Try to remember that whatever law school I'm meant to be at will fall into place. It's a new adventure to go back to school and the rest of the details will fall into place.


• No wedding is perfect. It's easy to get caught up in the consumeristic view of a wedding. When it comes down to it, it's one day. We can have a beautiful wedding without stressing about things that don't matter in the long run. What I really look forward to is what comes after - my life returning to normal, and being with Ian through all the adventures.


• Moving is a clean start. What a fantastic way to start our first year of marriage - to start out in a (possibly new) area and buy our first place together.

And here are some small things:

• Send out notes to friends more often. Getting real mail is so fun and exciting and I'm very lucky to have so many people around me - but I want to be better about the little things and letting them know how awesome they are.


• Cooking a more extravagent meal with Ian once per week. This idea started because my Dad got me a subscription to bon appetit for Christmas. My dad is a fantastic cook and I think growing up watching he and my mom cooking has given me a true interest.

I'm coming up with more along the way so I'll add them as I come up with them. Share your thoughts - do you have any new year's resolutions?

If you can't tell - things are slow at work today which explains my LONG post:)