You must be lost

I'm still kind of buzzing from the overwhelming energy of Saturday. So much joy and love was in the air. It truly was an amazing experience! As I told Chris Saturday night, I was prepared for the event, but not for the experience. Thanks to everyone who was a part of it!

Friday was a hectic day for sure. By 10:30am when I showed up at the bridesmaids' luncheon, I had already been all over town. The luncheon was so much more than I was expecting. Pat and Janie really went all out. My pictures are here, and my sister-in-law, Amy's pictures are here. The ladies in the aprons are Pat on the left and Janie on the right. All of the food was delicious and so wonderfully presented! I'm sure there are more pictures on the way.

Much chaos ensued after the luncheon until the rehearsal dinner. Chris went out and ran more errands and I stayed home trying to pack up everything we'd need for the wedding. I had to sit down at one point and breathe. I had been running at top speed since 8:30am and really just needed to rest for a second.

While we were running around in chaos, my oldest brother, Mike and his son Matthew and wife Amy went to my mother's grave site. They got some great pictures there.

Here are Mike's pictures of the rehearsal dinner at Green Hills Grille. Again, I'm sure more pictures will arrive.

( And then there was Saturday. . . )

There was a very brief "now what" feeling yesterday, but really, I've got my next major work already cut out for me.

New icon is one of the many petunias I've been planting for the wedding. Centerpieces are an asparagus fern surrounded by three of these petunias in a 6" pot. Then, four 3" pots with a begonia in each one (two white, two pink) spaced evenly around the center pot and in between those 4 amber colored glass votive holders (dollar store, 2/$1). I set it up on our dining room table the other day to see how it looks. Granted our table is quite a bit smaller than the ones we'll be using at the lodge, but it gives me an idea of height and spacing and such. I think it's going to work nicely. Not so high you can't talk to the person across the table from you, but high enough so it's not completely missed and pointless. I think we managed to do this for under $5/table. Take that florist that wanted to charge me $200 for a hurricane with a pillar and some greenery!

I got 6 of the 16 beaded strands done on the headpiece the week after it came in. Then, I had to put it away to finish long overdue invitations (that should have gone out a month ago but are going out today, D'OH!). I noticed on the first looping strand I did, one side is the length I want and the other side is about an inch shorter. S'ok, I'll just pull the beaded drop off and make a new longer one to go there and use the one that's already there for the next shorter one. It's weird though. I beaded the shorter one first and used it as a guide for the one that wound up longer. Not sure how it wound up about an inch longer but it did. Oh well.

I picked up beading the trim for the neckline of my gown yesterday. I should have that done by the end of the week. Not nearly as insane a project as belluthien is undertaking, but still, just a bit tedious. Sometimes, I can just fly through it, but right now, I think I'm just not feeling like doing it so it feels more like a task. Might get better as I get into it more.

That's about all that's been going on with me. 26 days until the wedding and it's pretty much all I'm working on. When I get bored with beading, I go plant some more flowers. The ones for the wedding are almost all planted (still need more 6" pots), but I still have several flats of begonias and petunias that I can plant just for the house. Not to mention the tomato and pepper plants we got yesterday. I still would like to get some purple or red salvia and some snapdragons to go in some of the mixed containers for like buffet tables and stuff for the wedding. I think that would go nicely with what we have already and the Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato vine) we got yesterday as well, one of the lime green ones and one of the blackish purple ones.

I've got everything all lined up on the deck banister and as we left this morning, Chris glanced up and said, "we have a ton of plants right now" and I said, "yep, it makes me happy." ;] He said it makes him happy, too.

baka_san summed up the trip pretty well already. While it wasn't horrible and I'm glad for having gone, I don't think I'll be doing any backpacking in sub-freezing temperatures again or without having hiked in over 6 months for that matter. I have a problem with not being able to get warm. I can handle cold as long as I have a way to get warm, even if for just brief moments. To keep warm, we had to walk, but you get tired and sore and want to stop, so you do and then you get cold. Vicious cycle. But fun trip, and we ate really well for backpacking too! Mmm, salmon and asparagus cooked over a campfire. *drool* The dogs finally recovered yesterday I think. I've got a couple of sore toes still and once in a while will get a shooting pain through my shins. But hey, I haven't exercised since September really, so it's to be expected. The dogs seem so happy to have gotten to go, I might take them on a short hike this weekend. Even if it's just in the back yard up Little Mountain and back down. Overall they did pretty good too, especially once they got tired. Sunflower has to learn to deal with her boredom a little better than she does (whining and digging). Jimi needs to freakin' eat (he's done better since he got home). I was enjoying their sleepiness the past couple of days though. We'll have to wear them out more often (they're a lot more quiet that way, heh).

Here are pics.

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Martha and Pat went up to the lodge yesterday with one of the candelabras we got at Hobby Lobby last week. They were testing out theories on mantle decor. Those are two really large mantles to fill and you want to make sure your decorating efforts aren't wasted and that people's eyes are drawn to them. They came up with some really good solutions I think and I guess we'll just work from that.

My headpiece should be shipping today. I can't wait to see it in person! Here are some pics she sent me of it while she was working. I'm expecting it in either Friday or Saturday.

Went to order the shirts for the rest of the groomsmen and damn it if they weren't out of two of the three sizes we need. Apparently they're discontinuing this shirt. Guess we'll have to find something else that will work similarly.

I'm considering at least getting phase two of my tattoo finished before the wedding. Since my dress will show it, I'd like for it to be more than just an outline. Now to find my drawing of phase two (I'm almost certain I know where it is). I suppose if I'm going to do that, it should be done in the next week or two. Certainly wouldn't want it to still be healing. Let's see, I'm about to turn 25, I got it when I was 18. . . it's only taken me 7 years to get the next phase done. The sad part is, phase two has been drawn out and ready to go since right after phase one was finished. Phase three will be color. I suppose I could get it completely finished so it doesn't take me another 7 years to do that much.

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Other than that, all I have to say is. . . I hate my job. I can't wait until it's over! When I was downtown to meet with Gatehouse, I saw the "coming soon House of Brews cafe/pub" sign and got excited. Speaking of, I had a weird dream about House of Brews, Brandy, Donna and I the other night (think it was Sunday or Monday night). It was quite a fun dream. The three of us kept running around to restaurants downtown ordering stuff, trying it and saying, "House of Brews is better", then running back to HoB. Silliness ensued.

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Oh, and I talked to Holly last night. She's doing reasonably well. Sounds happy despite a lot of bad luck (monetarily speaking). They not only have the baby now, but they also have Jodi's son, Marco from a "previous" marriage (I won't get into why there are quotes around that). But they seem to be in good health and spirits. Her mom is doing a lot better now. Apparently a lot of her dementia and memory loss was due to her Prilosec prescription. Damn drugs. Not to mention being back up on the mountain has her in better spirits.

And while I made the call I've been meaning to make for a month, I totally forgot to make the call I've been planning for a month, determined to not miss the date. My dad's birthday was yesterday, D'OH! I don't know how many times I either wrote or made note of 3/28, but it didn't occur to me until this morning. It was my first thought when I woke up today. I still don't know what to get him. He's so difficult to shop for!

Last night I went out with Chris' mom and her friend Pat who's been helping me a great deal with ideas and such.

( Heh, squeely "old" women )

Cake is done. Just dropped off the deposit and booked the date. We need to give her a call soon with a definite time of when the ceremony/reception is to be and our flavors and setup choices.

Tomorrow, we'll head to All Needz to hopefully get rentals squared away. Chris' mom is scouting out tablecloths at their church to see if they've got some we can use. She called right before lunch and said it didn't look promising and to go ahead and look into renting them. Looking at the price list again though, they're not as expensive as I thought. I didn't see the "banquet" length ones (90" round) on their list when I looked before and those are only $7 each instead of $11.

After that, tomorrow afternoon we'll head to Fayetteville to check out Sir's Fabrics (looking for brocades for groomsmen vests) and a beer store hopefully to get some Double Bastard.

Over the weekend, I'll be looking at the pics I took and the floor plan and thinking about flowers and decor. And next week I'll start the search for florists. I've got five on my list to consult with and I'll leave it at that.

On the way to the lodge earlier, I saw blue sky. But all over town, I keep running into patches of rain. It was pouring while we were at the lodge. It's like it wants to rain really bad, but it's just too tired to do much of anything.

Roomba is handling some spring cleaning for us, heh.

( Venues and cakes )