A Productive Monday? Rare But True

When I was working [wait, that makes it sounds like I've been unemployed for years instead of weeks!], Mondays were NOT my most productive days. Actually, strangely enough, I was typically able to get my best work done (quantity and quality) on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays and Thursdays weren't bad, but Monday -- at least until about lunchtime, when I got back in the swing of things -- was sometimes a wash.
However, today was highly productive Monday! So exciting. Well, it's exciting to me, because I'm counting down to a wedding. It may not be so exciting to some of you, which I understand.
Today John and I:
-applied for our marriage license (which, apparently, you don't get a the county courthouse - you get it at the county probate office). I pick it up tomorrow.
-finished out premarital counseling sessions and discussed the service with our pastor
-corresponded with the pianist
-picked up some gifts for people involved with the wedding
-picked up the ties for John's GM (they are from a different tux rental shop than the one the guys are getting the rest of their tuxes from so that they will be "Marine" blue)
-had lunch together
-we comparison shopped several jewelry stores and purchased John's wedding band
-we attempted to purchase sparklers at several places, but that hasn't worked out just yet
-we worked on a 'sign' for the reception

-packed a TON of stuff and loaded John's car for him to take it up to TN - it was the last load besides what we actually take on the honeymoon with us. Good thing we're traveling by car so there's no luggage restrictions!

After John left for TN, I headed to the gym for a while. I might be able to squeeze in 1 or 2 more things this evening, but my bed is calling my name!

You know, after all that...

I will admit that planning a wedding is fun, too. If you don't let yourself get too carried away by the craziness of the minutia! :) There's something truly and deeply magical about setting the stage and building the drama until you are given away as a Bride, like the Church is to Christ.

Long Overdue

Whew, I am tired.
Everyone kept telling me how exhausting planning a wedding could be, but I didn't understand how making a few phone calls, ordering some flowers, food, and music could be so tiring! Now that we've had to deal with vendors who were misinformed, or came back with higher prices, or couldn't help us, etc., I realize that's more of an emotional weariness than physical. At the end of the day, you simply can't understand how you are so tired when all you did was make phone calls (it feels like 40!), change the program music (I finally caved to a traditional bridal march), run errands and go to appointments (about 12), check program proofs (about 7 -- resulting in 3 more phone calls and 1 more errand), and work out these crazy details.
I mean seriously, does anyone really care about the types of candles someone has at a reception? Because I don't. And apparently that makes me a really bad bride. Like, worse than a bridezilla. I think I frustrate the vendors (and also very helpful family members) by NOT having an opinion! I don't really care about what shade of beige the table overlays are. It's not that I'm not excited or don't care about the wedding itself, because I am really excited. I'm absolutely counting down these next few days. All I know is that I get to marry John, and it's going to be a beautiful service and a lovely, fun reception. With sparklers and twinkle lights and our families and music and friends and a dress I really like. Oh, and I know that something big is bound to go wrong, because it does for every wedding, but in the end it's just one more story to tell your grandchildren!
I'm really glad that my mom is so gifted in different directions than I am and I have really appreciated her help lately. I get excited about having a plan set up for how to most efficiently light the sparklers, or how to handle parking and transportation, or planning when we get to eat snacks!, or about the printed materials looking good. [I'll admit it, I'm pretty excited that the invitations, programs, matchboxes, and sign for the reception all coordinate!] To each his own. My mom gets excited about table displays and making sure she knows what all my aunts are going to wear. My mom is coordinating the reception decor, making the table arrangements (a florist was mucho expensive for that!), and making sure things fit into an overall cohesive vision. I know it's going to be gorgeous -- she has great taste. And, although this was hard for me to see at first because I couldn't see her "vision" until I started seeing the pieces come together, my mom is working really hard for the visible parts of the wedding (the flower, decor, tables, etc.) to really reflect what I would want...if I had enough taste to know what I wanted!
I've spent a lot of time with my mom lately because most of my bridesmaids are way too swamped to be involved this week, which I understand. I've been in people's weddings before when basically all I could do was show up! In this week before the wedding, I've got 1 bridesmaid working all the time in SC, 1 doing the same thing in TN, 1 on a long overdue beach vacation, 1 in England, 1 in Peru, and 1 packing to move to Singapore. It's a busy busy group of girls, but they still call and check up on how things are progressing! They are all so sweet and so important to me, and I can't wait to see them next Friday!
I'm glad I was able to have this time with my mom, but I'm a little worried about how she's going to take it when I move away and don't 'belong' to her anymore (if that's the right way to put it). It could be a tough transition for both of us. I always grew up a 'Daddy's girl,' but my relationship with my mother has become closer with age.
I'm really psyched that John will be in town this weekend! We have to get him a wedding band, meet with the photographer, go to counseling, load his car with the last of my stuff to move up to TN, and buy sparklers. And we have to go to the courthouse on Monday to get a WEDDING LICENSE! Yay!
Please pray that our housing situation will work out soon. We have submitted a security deposit and application for an apartment, but we haven't heard yet whether that's all worked out. I'm glad that John made honeymoon plans for the NC mountains, because that will be both relaxing and convenient for moving (timing/location wise) since it's already en route to TN.
We're getting there! Pray for wisdom and calm for John and I and for our families! :)

Tuesday Timeline List

Well, it's time for another Tuesday list.
But first of all, I apologize for being so slack at blogging lately. Let me catch you up. I wrapped up my last day at my job on Friday, 20 June, and then spent the weekend enjoying my friends John and Carrie Beth Candeto's beautiful wedding. That was a great weekend! Their wedding service was a beautiful tribute to the Lord, and the reception was a great celebration! I was so glad that (my) John came into town to be my date for the wedding -- we had so much fun dancing and catching up with Furman friends!
Last week, my mom surprised me with a rather impromptu beach trip for my birthday. We took a short little jaunt down to stay in Folly Beach and also spent part of a day walking through Charleston. My mom used to take us to Folly Beach every year when we were little; she still says that she never feels like it's "summer" until she gets at least a brief beach trip.
This past weekend, my girlfriends threw me a bachelorette party and lingerie shower at The Reserve at Lake Keowee. It was great! My sister-in-law Sara treated us to dinner at the Clubhouse and also arranged for us to stay in a beautiful cottage. We spent most of Saturday at the pool, and then my friends put together a beautiful shower and really fun night.
John also came into town this weekend, and so did my brother Justin and sister-in-law Marie and their kids. John spent time hanging out with my family and watching toddlers while I was enjoying a luxurious stay at The Reserve! He's so great. The reason everyone was in town this weekend was for a cookout shower that my grandmother threw for John and I on Sunday. The food was delicious and it was great to see my extended family on my Mom's side.
It really does feel like summer to me now. I can't believe that the summer was almost halfway over before I realized it had started! I guess that's what happens when you're used to working an office job - there's not much to distinguish the summer from any other season. Now it feels like summer: lots of weddings and parties, a beach trip, fun weekends, a calmer pace than usual during the week, Mom not working, and even a little sleeping in. Most of all, it feels like summer because I'm getting ready to move. All my summers through college involved moving, whether it was just from school to home back to school, or for summer stints in DC and Florida. Summer always feels so transitory, and this one even more so, since I know so much will be changing soon. My name, my home, my job, my state, everything!
In light of how quickly things are approaching, I figured I'd just list the remaining weekends between now and the wedding as my Tuesday "list". I know it's cheating, but this was a pretty long entry anyways.
4 July - I'm going to visit John in TN this weekend, and we're going to Nashville's big Fourth celebration on the river!
12 July - After going to a friend's birthday cookout on Friday night in SC, I will leave early Saturday for a midday cookout in TN. Hopefully by this time we will have an apartment that we can start stashing stuff in or some really good leads to follow up on. This will be my last weekend in TN as a visitor -- the next time I'm there will be to move there indefinitely.
19 July - John is coming to SC this weekend. We'll have more premarital counseling sessions and work on wedding details. I'm hoping we can go to Sliding Rock too. (We also have to get a headcount to the caterer.)
26 July - John is coming to SC this weekend too. We'll wrap up our counseling and he'll hopefully drive a Uhaul truck back home full of furniture for us to use!
2 August - We get married!
I haven't really started to think about the weekends after that...I'm sure they'll be busy too as John and I adjust to school, work, marriage, and new environs!