geez is it too late to elope?

You know I had no idea how this wedding planning can take over your life. I jokingly tell people at work its like a second job...funny thing is it really is now. It has had its fair share of ups and downs and honestly at this point I'm ready to elope! I hate to lose all of our deposits but I'm sort of at a cross road with the direction I'm trying to go. I want to change everything at this point and wonder if I do if I will regret it or want to change again in 3 months! UGH!

I really enjoy the whole planning process its just seems the more I research the more ideas I get and the more things I want to change....too much is definitely enough!

Wedding plans wedding plans wedding plans

So I am into my second month of wedding plans and it is beginning to get overwhelming! Who knew it is so time consuming and detailed? Well I will tell you who knew all those people out there that do this for a living thats who. Good grief! Its nuts and the expense of the smallest details is CRAZY! Flowers for $1500! Whatever (which by the way I have learned as of late is the polite way to say F*** you!) I guess I can serve those flowers on my buffet instead of real food :) Personally I dont think we should even have to feed everyone a full meal either. It is going to be close to 7 when the wedding starts. Normal people eat dinner around 6 (according to my Aunt who may very well be the last person on Earth that eats that early) so I would think a few snacks and the cake would suffice right? Who knows what it will end up being come December though. So as of this date I have taken care of the flowers, cake, favors and site. Oh and changed my colors (again). I have narrowed down my photographer choices to 3 as of now. It is such a hard decision for me, pictures are high on my priority list for sure! I have also lost 6.6 lbs thanks to lots of prayer and WW (yah me!) I thought I was doing pretty well then I realized I have hit the 9month mark. I am not sure why exactly but that makes me very nervous... I have a counter on my computer that reads 292 days until our wedding, sure it sounds like alot but not really. I want to have everything decided by at least June so I can focus on a dress then. Yep thats right I am putting off getting the dress until June. I am hoping I will be a couple of sizes smaller by then so it wont be so freaking nerve wrecking for me to stand in front of all those mirrors. I keep getting these visions of Stacy and Clinton standing there shaking their heads and rolling their eyes. Ok now that I have all that out, back to planning! Oh FYI these are the flowers we are having....

Who Knew

So we have discussed getting married for the millionth time. Except this time its for real. Wedding Chapel reserved for real. There is still no engagement ring but I am trying not to think of that too much for fear of reality sinking in I suppose. I guess in the end a ceremony trumps ring. I am just realizing that as much as I fought the feeling I am becoming more tradional and old fashioned in my old age than I once thought possible...

Is THIS really neccessary?

So one of my family members has recently joined the Army National Guard. Being a previous Military brat and wife I know a little bit about all of "odd" things that going on during drills and training. Today though, even I was absolutely shocked by what this weekends training included. We were informed that today's training included the proper placement and securing of an infant/toddler seat in a Humvee. For those that don't know what that is here's a brief explanation courtesy of Wikipedia= (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee) is a military 4WD motor vehicle)

I just wanted to be sure your on the same page so you can agree with how preposterous this is. Are you with me now? OK moving on...

Seriously, car seats? Is that really necessary? I mean I don't know how many children under the age of 5 are enlisted in the guard these days but I would guess um....none. Or maybe they have a newly instated "bring your children to work day" every week. Where you can drive around with your toddlers in your standard issued military vehicle while the older children get to man the machine guns and navigate. Doubtful. Thinking about this logically and for several hours now, I just don't really see the sense in spending several hours training our soldiers to do this. I don't know what all is going on overseas at this point, but are our soldiers really spending time driving around picking up stranded children on the side of the road? Surely not, considering the increased risk for road side bombings and all. So lets say they are spending even a minuscule amount of time inquiring about stranded children, is it really necessary that time be taken to properly place the safety seat in the vehicle? I mean good grief I would think the less time spent on something like that the better. Not that I am against protecting children in any way but I just don't see how the proper placement of a car seat is going to protect a child from a stray bullet or an IED. I know that the news is never really completely true, but I watch it and read the newspaper pretty regularly. I don't recall Anderson Cooper ever mentioning anything about child casualties in Iraq or Afghanistan due to not wearing a seat belt or malfunctioning child safety restraints due to improper placement or user error. In all honesty this doesn't really effect me much and other than the initial annoyance this caused my family member today I wont really investigate this further. Just couldn't help but think it was Blog worthy for sure. If anyone one has an answer or possible suggestion as to why our military is setting aside a special time to train our soldiers to do this please let me know.

Day one of my year!!

So since this is 2008 and 8 has been my favorite number for as long as I can remember that has to mean something right? (Well let me start by saying I was originally going to name this blog So 8 is my favorite number but there wasn't enough space so I opted for lucky rather than do the "fav" thing since my proper English gene just would not allow that.) I wouldn't "really" consider 8 to be my lucky number because I don't "really" believe in luck. Fate yes, luck no. I am a firm believer in the simple fact that everything happens for a reason, we don't always know those reasons but they exist. At least in my world they do. Just like there are no mistakes just learning experiences. Needless to say I have had quite a few learning experiences in my lifetime :) This year is going to be different though. Not that I am going for perfection in any sense of the word but better, definitely better. Oh and productive, let me be sure to throw that in there. I have a lot of things planned this year and it will be interesting to look back 366 (yep its a leap year) and see how many things I actually accomplished. For the official record I feel obligated to post a short list, bare with me here....

1. Lose weight (me and the rest of the world right? Well everyone except my niece and younger sister who were blessed with the metabolism of cheetahs)

2. Attend Church and Life Group more regularly

3.Take at least 2 BIG vacations. One to NYC in December and the other is still being decided.

4. Get Married!!! This is something Blake and I have been talking about for awhile now but we have not gone much farther than that. We are not even officially engaged yet! Although his family is already telling people that we are :( I guess that can be looked at as a good thing but I don't want to take away from the actually act of getting engaged and being able to announce it. You know like in the movies where I flash my huge Diamond at everyone, except in this case it wont be a diamond.......more on that later.

5. Start learning French for next years trip to Paris....(Yes I'm thinking that far ahead)

Well that doesn't look too bad now that I have written it all down. I would like to point out that while these may resemble resolutions, I don't consider them resolutions. Resolutions are things that at the beginning of every year I think about and by week 2 I can't remember. This is different, no really it is. As I watched the ball in NYC drop last night I couldn't help but to feel this year is different, this is my year. Even though I am always saddened to see Dick Clark and his current state of health,I was truly happy to see him alive and welcoming in the New Year with me. It really is an amazing site to see all of those people in Time Square sharing that experience in harmony. It never gets old for me and without even knowing it has become a tradition in our home on New Years Eve. So Happy 2008 Everyone! I pray this is not only my year but a year of prosperity for everyone.