Things that induce insantiy

There are a couple things we've done during this engagement that I'm pretty sure solidify our standing as...insane.

#1, just 2 months after becoming engaged, we moved into our second home. When we finally left LA, we had just sold the first home we ever owned together. We are now the proud owners of a (much larger...thank you Northern California) home in El Dorado County.

Much larger, ah, the ups and downs. This has been great on a couple accounts. The first is we really have room to do whatever we want. There's so much room to let our minds run wild. The second is we can actually have people over and they don't have to sleep on our sofa and they get a proper room with a proper closet. The best part of the big house comes in my next insanity bullet. As for the downfalls of owning a big house, the biggest downfall is that we have all the room to do whatever we want...and no time, energy, or money to do it yet. Paying for this wedding and seeing ALLLL the possibilities in a brand new home and want to act on your impulse do not go hand in hand. The second downfall is having to clean it. Seriously. Pain.

#2, TUCKER!!! We got a 1 -1/2 year old puppy named Tucker just after we moved in. While he's chewed up every piece of furniture we own, buried approximately 97 bones throughout our backyard, eaten 2 remote controls, and has had us complained on for barking at our neighbors (or rather, the random noises over the fence)...we couldn't love him any more than we do. He's my running buddy and companion while the dude works late nights. He has the most amazing eyebrows....

Sometimes he prevents me from blogging when he does this...

But he's worth it.

All of this has added some logistical (or financial) obstacles at the whole wedding planning process (like when we decided to redo the backyard because the people before us had...well...really bad taste and everything was dead).

Anyway, it's all been worth it...I like a bit of a challenge here and there. Can't wait until the planning process is over and we can see what life really has in store for us.

By the way...the new home really made registering that much more fun because we actually have a place to put everything we get. EXCITING!!

The truth is...

I've been in a MASSIVE funk. The friend I mentioned in my previous post, has passed. I let it get to me in a major way. But I've started to come out of it and snap back into life.

I want everyone to live their life to the fullest, and I'm sure everyone wants me to do the same. There are a select few people who have helped pull me out of my funk, but I'll keep their names out of this. I'll simply say that with one of these people, seeing Tosh tour on ice in a couple weeks is going to be awesome and the highlight of my summer (so far). To the other, you're moving to Sacramento and I couldn't be more happy.

I have a feeling things are on the up and up...I'm pretty sure I should start charging my camera now.

With that, let the wedding planning blog march on.

I wanted my next post to be about invites, but I am unable to locate the cable to hook my camera up to the computer...so let's talk MUSIC! I spent my evening tightening up the playlist for the ceremony and reception, tonight we talk strictly ceremony music.

I knew from the absolute beginning what song my girls and his guys would be walking down the aisle to. Each member of the wedding will walk down the aisle alone to the entire length of 'Over the Rainbow' by IZ


Isreal "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole - Over the Rainbow

I have had so many ideas of what I would walk down the aisle to...Canon in D for instance, the song my mother walked down the aisle to. How fitting? Her dress...her song. As much as I love my moms taste, I had to come to terms with the need to make this wedding a little bit more about me. So what then?

I don't know why it didn't come to me sooner, but there's an artist I love, Teitur Lassen, loved him for years now. I've seen him live, met him, crooned...etc etc. Anyway, he writes the most amazing lyrics I've ever heard in my life. After speaking with who I hope will be officiating the ceremony and getting the lecture of making the song about ME and only ME...I knew what to do. Without further ado, the song to which I will walk down the aisle:


Teitur Lassen - You're the Ocean

So I think at this point the eyes will be sufficiently soaked for those close enough to be emotional over this occasion (me). I figured that was enough (self inflicted) torture...so I figured the recessional had to be somewhat different to help with the recovery (for myself). I created a list of all the songs I'd be glad to recess back down the aisle to. The dude, on his own accord, actually approved of some of them (this is huge...he and I do not see eye to eye on music...he may disagree, but my taste is epic in comparison) :)

Anyway, with that being said, here's our upbeat recessional music, to which I will retreat to an ice cold Diet Coke, stashed apps, and dress changes...all wrapped in my newly wedded glow (tears dried on my cheeks).


Beach Boys - Wouldn't it be Nice

After the wedding I'll post photos depicting the actual events...but so far, this is our soundtrack.

I listen to these songs constantly in hopes that by the time the wedding rolls around I won't have an emotional reaction to any of them.

Right.

And she's back

Sorry for the delay in postings...I've been really busy and in a really big funk.

Let me break it down for you...You know that part in all wedding vows that has to do with "'til death do us part"? What if you really had to face that. Don't worry, the dude and I are both perfectly healthy...but what if your significant other wasn't? How do you get through?

Essentially what's going on is I know of a couple I met in my college fraternity (What's up DELTASIGS??). This couple graduated and got married. This couple looks like the poster couple for all things perfect. Perfect teeth, perfect smiles, perfect love (from what I could tell)...I knew they were right for each other. I didn't keep in touch with this couple, but did think back on them (and everyone else) fondly as I thought about all the events I was part of in my fraternity. Fast forward to about a month ago, I get an email from another brother (we're all brothers...so that's how I refer to everyone)...anyway, the guy of the couple has been ill for over a year. Turns out he's not going to make it. I went back and read the entire blog and just sobbed...and sobbed. It literally shut me down, mentally...emotionally.

Yes, I feel absolutely awful for this couple and can't believe the courage I read about every time I visit that site...it's simply amazing. But could I be that strong? Could I watch it happen? Could I sit there? I don't know...I mean I broke down READING about someone I went to college with but don't talk to. Am I strong enough for this? How do you ever know? It's encouraging to know that others have the capacity they do...maybe it's in human nature to be there and simply protect and comfort those you love? I hope so.

Anyway, I think I'm finally climbing out of my hole. It made for an interesting birthday and start to my summer...but I think I'm coming out of it and truly learning to cherish everyone. Not just my dude...everyone.

So let this commence the update posts again. I have a lot to share with you.

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To top it off

As with everything else in this wedding, I've had my fair share of "ooh, I want that to be my cake topper" moments...so let's take a quick jog down memory lane before I show you where we landed on this issue.

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I totally wanted these little wood peg people. SO freaking adorable!!! OK, pretty much that was all I wanted to be on the top of the cake. I showed them to Eric and he didn't really care...then he saw what you see below.

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KILL ME! These are adorable. There are Zelda versions, Luigi versions, INSANE!! The downfall is that these toppers are REALLY expensive. Well, not REALLY expensive, but above the budget. Like I said before...you have to stick to the budget in some places, otherwise what good is the budget?

(images via Sears.com)

We actually bought these. We figured this was a good compromise. Mario Brothers (3) has always been my favorite video game and we figured the pink and green Yoshi were a good representation of something we both really enjoy. Their arms move and we were going to have them "fist bump" on the top of the cake.

I was pretty much done there. I figured this was enough for the top of our cake. Granted there is no love story between the pink and green Yoshi...but that didn't really matter right?

So one day we were picking out a birthday gift for the dude's sister at Urban Outfitters when I came across these amazing little action figures called Kidrobot. They create mini action figures from all your favorite cartoons (read : all MY favorite cartoons) including Family Guy, The Simpson's, and Futurama. Futurama is one of our all-time favorite cartoons ever. There are a couple love stories running through the show, so it kind of works. I knew this had to be our new cake topper. The only problem with Kidrobot is the toys come in boxes and you can't see what's inside...so it's ALL by chance. Yikes. At $10 per toy and with 9 different options, who knows how much I would end up spending trying to find the two characters I wanted. No thanks.

A couple weeks went by, but I was sold...I needed to switch our cake topper. The dude said I should just order them on Ebay, that way I could get exactly what I wanted. Today I finally made that purchase and got the action figures below:

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Fry and Leela! If you watch Futurama, you know their story. I'm so excited! Not only do they have a love story behind them, but we really freaking love this show. Also, I've used a quote from this show (from one of the other love stories) for other parts of this wedding. There are two characters named Kip and Amy, Kip in a particular episode called Amy his Smizmar. Basically, a Smizmar is your one true love. This word is used in Kip's culture and it means that you can ONLY be with your Smizmar, otherwise nothing else will ever work out. Eric and I refer to each other as Smizmar (it's even the title of our wedding website). I will have this word engraved in Eric's ring when we get it too.

So there you have it...our wedding cake toppers finally mean something to me! I mean US! :)

Who woulda thunk it?

I always assumed that my parents would be adding on guests to the guest list left and right. I mean, I'm the first daughter to get married, their oldest daughter...I just thought it would go with the territory that not only would I be a Bridezilla...

(rawr!)

But that my mom would be a Momzilla...

(rawr!)

And of course, my sister would be a Maidzilla...

(rawr!)

But alas, that we are not. I don't have many demands...in fact people are demanding that I start demanding so I stop writing complaining posts about how my dress will make it anywhere without me (yes, I know you all love me, I'll shut up about it...I think).

Anyway, the point of this post is not to call anyone a zilla of any sort...it's just to talk about the weird paradigm shift I am experiencing. I always assumed the dudes parents really didn't care about the 'who, what, where, WEAR, when, or why' of the wedding. I just assumed they would ask us to invite one friend and we'd move along. Well, the dude and I were very much mistaken. Very, very much mistaken. Our first guest list was comprised of people I thought would come to the wedding. I didn't think it was nice to send an invite to someone I knew wouldn't come. Maybe I'm naive, I just didn't want those people to think I was begging for a gift. Man, I really care what people think, don't I?

Our second guest list had numerous people added that I COMPLETELY forgot about (but love just the same as those on the first list). To this day, we are still adding people to our guest list. Mind you, all additions are being made by the dude's family (who have offered to pay for them, so it's no big deal). But it's totally weird! Our guest list is now at about 103 people! INSANE! (in the membrane...)

Let's talk about the (ongoing) additions, they're BIG additions. Not really numbers wise...STATUS wise. Seriously. I will not divulge what it is the dude does for a living, but let me break it down in business speak. Say you worked for a company of approximately 12,000 employees and the CEO was invited to your wedding. This is all good because you know the CEO on a first name basis and vice versa. Cool. But what if inviting that CEO meant you also had to invite the VP of Operations and the VP of Finance...both of whom you don't know. Oh, and by the way, the VP of Operations is married to the CEO of the company across the street. Yeah, big wigs are invited (and likely attending) our wedding.

What the WHAT???

The sad part? The dude won't receive any special treatment for (sorta) knowing and (definitely) partying with these people. My dude likes to be EXTREMELY professional at all times, so I really hope he can get past all of this.

As for me? I'm not inviting anyone from work, and I'm A-OK with that.

Needless to say, I can't wait to send out our invites so there can be no more additions and we can move past all of these surprises.

Did you have any surprise additions to your guest list? How did you deal with it?

We made it...let's talk about favoring our favorite people

So we made it past the 'rapture', welcome my fellow survivors. In all seriousness, I am merely jumping on the 'rapture' bandwagon because other people WON'T SHUT UP ABOUT IT. I have no idea where it stemmed from or why anyone would take it seriously. I work too many hours to even consider wrapping my head around this rapture. Either way, we made it...so let's talk about 'favoring' the guests.

I have had about 9 million (seriously) ideas about what to give as favors (I still think they're ALL cool...and may use them in the future at another party, ya know...if I ever get a day off).

Here's a quick run down of all the favors that could have been:

Option one : Hot Chocolate
Secret : I HATE hot chocolate, but was DYING for a warm fall-inspired wedding, this totally fit the bill.


Option two : Miniature bags of seasonal fruit
Secret : I really just thought it looked adorable. I didn't care that it had nothing to do with ANY theme I had ever imagined.


Option three : Personal deserts for AFTER the wedding
Secret : I will never deny the absolute adorable-ness of this, but do you have any idea how expensive this favor can get? Holy cow!


Option four : Succulents, succulents for EVERYONE!
Secret : This falls right in line with my theme. Couple downfalls though, I hate getting plants...they all die...why force my taste on someone else? Second downfall, again, VERY expensive.


Option five : Salsa!
Secret : This falls right in line with the Mexican fare we will be serving. I wanted to take this one step further and have a friend MAKE all the salsa. Yeah, that would take a while...and none of us know how to can...anything.
SUPER Secret : I wanted customer labels, and I want them to say:

Amelia & Dude...keepin' it spicy


Cheeseball!

I know, no one at the wedding really NEEDS a favor, but I'm not going to lie...I think they're fun, albeit mostly useless in daily application. Do you really use the heart shaped measuring spoons you got at a wedding in the past? Probably not...but they likely rusted at this point, because they were likely $2.

That being said, here's what I've finally decided on...

Cactus Cookie Cutter
(source is just for picture purposes, not where they will be purchased)


To be paired with homemade cactus (sugar) cookies!

Along with the cookie cutter and homemade cookie, guests will receive the recipe for both the cookie and the frosting (family recipes). I'll just have to figure out a way to package it all together.

It's no secret that my top choice would have been to make salsa with one of our best friends (what's up Steve!) and can it...and label it. But honestly, I just don't have the time or patience...and simply think this will be easier. Good thing is, it TOTALLY goes with the theme. Win-WIN!

Did you have favors? How did you pick them out? Do you like getting favors at weddings?

A big giant Lull

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If you have read even a little bit of this blog, you know that I am a planner. I have already started planning how we will pack for the honeymoon. I have planned what restaurant we should take my parents to for my dads birthday (just a few days prior to the wedding...for the record, we have chosen the Stammtisch Restaurant in Seaside).

But I feel like the picture above so perfectly sums up the way I feel right now. I feel like everything looks beautiful (you can't tell me the above photo isn't beautiful)...but there's a storm a-brewin. Seriously...I haven't been able to make it to my home town to even have a face to face conversation with the man I want to marry us (more on this later), I haven't picked linens, I'm completely rethinking our cake topper, I have NO CLUE how my ceremony dress, all my stuff, and our gifts are going to make it out of the wedding site without ME having to haul all that junk in my reception dress and Choo's. To be honest, I'm getting a little nervous about the storm...but I'm stuck staring at the beauty.

I feel like I've come a long way...but have SO FAR to go. I only have 4 months left...how do you smack yourself back into reality?