Mawwiage

I didn't think a blog post could do justice to our wedding...so I haven't written one. Instead, I think you should just take a look at the photos. They tell the whole story better than I could. Oh, who are we kidding. Y'all know I'm going to narrate this puppy.



My handsome groom. He looked wonderful in his tux, and I cried when I saw him at the end of the aisle.



I looked just as I'd imagined I would on my wedding day -- like me, just turned up a notch. The makeup didn't turn me into someone else, and the dress let me breathe AND eat :).



One of my favorite pictures of the day. Our friend, James, my groom's best friend from college and a minister, looking on with joy on his face as my groom, my husband, my Thane, watches me walk down the aisle.



My daddy walking me down the aisle. I was bawling. He held it together until the father-daughter dance, when I leaned up and whispered in his ear that I'd chosen our song, "Three Little Birds," when I was a sophomore in high school.



We did it! We walked out, with style, to Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours." (this is making me think I should do an edition of Friday Song Lyrics with the best of our wedding songs...)



Another favorite -- me with my bridesmaids after Thane and I walked down the aisle as husband and wife. They put up with so much, did so much and mean so much.



Best groom's party picture EVER.



We danced, and the song, Ben Folds' "The Luckiest," was just so true. It felt wonderful to hold my husband and be held by him in return.



Our gorgeous day. This wedding was more than I had ever imagined (never really having been a girl to imagine the day and all its particulars), and it was perfect. I am so grateful to my parents and all the friends and family who made it all come together just so.

Our marriage is off to a wicked good start.

An Evening at the Movies

My dad really wanted to see Public Enemies, and being, myself, a fan of both Johnny Depp and movies where I grow attached to the bad guys, I agreed to along. WG said he'd go if I, and I quote, "need company." Well, nah, I had my daddy, so the company part? Covered.

Well, Public Enemies was fabulous, as was the evening. I met Daddy at the theater right after work (yes, I did have packing to do; yes, I am moving on Saturday, but some things, like spending an evening at the movies with Daddy, take priority). He had brought sandwiches, which I hid in my giant work purse, and we settled in with a coke and the previews.

The movie was great. It had strong dialogue, really interesing cinematography (think the Bourne movies, minus the whip-lash), and Johnny Depp.

Johnny Depp...John Dillinger...JD...JD...methinks it was meant to be.

Of course, this was about more than the movie.

This was about using one of the last nights when the only one I'm coming home to is Marley (though I'm sure that cat would actually like a detailed schedule of my comings and goings) to spend time with my pops. Because, after all, I am a Daddy's girl, through and through.

And oh? Mr. "If you need company, I'll go?" Well, when I told him about the movie, he said, "Why do you always go see good movies without me?"

sigh. boys.

Oh well, whoever you go with, you should go see Public Enemies and enjoy your dose of Johnny D.

700 Square Feet

I mentioned a while back that we were fast approaching THE MOVE. That fast approaching has now turned into warp speed, as THE MOVE happens in just under three days. We'll be "settled" before the wedding and before I start my credential program.

The apartment is 700 square feet and will house two people, one very loud orange cat and all our crap precious belongings
.
That's right. I have to live with a boy.

Okay, okay, I get to live with a boy.

A boy I love. A boy who loves me.

Okay, cheese-fest over.

We will merge our lives into a one-bedroom apartment in a city he knows more about than I do. We will merge our lives into a one-bedroom apartment, filling it with my too-many boxes and the items in the u-haul his dad keeps threatening to drive out from Oklahoma. In fact, there is a very interesting negotiation currently happening through my facebook page, in which my mom and his dad are trying to negotiate the terms of a fusbal table. I believe that superman underwear, a scuba set and a light sabre might be involved. Oy.

This is my last week living on my own. I'm trying to take advantage of it by doing the silly things I like to do on my own, but I'm also packing up all of my belongings, throwing out the things I never use, debating the meaning of "never use," and ensuring that the cat doesn't take a nose-dive off the ever-growing pile of boxes (yes, he's a cat, but a proper climber, he is not).

After this, the stuff is ours, the house is ours and the life is ours. Although, really, the life has been ours for quite some time, and that makes this all much easier.

So, here's to merging lives. Here's to friends with pick-up trucks who can be paid in beer and chinese food. Here's to parents willing to get up early to lift heavy things and babysit crazy cats. Here's to moving.

The One Where I Get Teary-Eyed With Joy

We're in the final count-down. Those final under-30 days before the wedding.

The final dress fitting happened yesterday, and I saw myself with a veil, the earrings, the necklace and without the giant flower-pin that had been threatening to take over the dress. That my lovely little seamstress removed on demand...sweet. My mom didn't cry at this fitting like she did at the last one, and I think it's partly because we're all about done with the wedding planning and oh so very ready for the real-deal.

Case in point.

My mom talked to WG's mom, and my soon-to-be-MIL revealed this little gem:

"I talked to WG on Thursday, and I asked him how everything is going. He told me, "I just want to marry her. I just want to be married."

Upon hearing this this at lunch, after I'd just watched Michael Jackson's daughter get on a microphone and tell everyone how much she loves her daddy, I couldn't do anything else by just sit there and let my eyes get misty.

He just wants to marry me.

When Doing Nothing Means Everything

The title is far more poetic than I can promise to make the post.

We had another jam-packed weekend planned, and then, something happened. My parents suddenly needed to attend a funeral (luckily, it was the funeral of a man who seemed quite ready to begin eternity, and the funeral filled an 1100 seat church to overflowing), and our plans to hit the beach with them and the dog evaporated into thin air.

And just like that, Saturday became a vast, empty day, but the most beautiful kind of empty, the unexpected kind of empty.

For the most part, we left our beautiful Saturday gloriously empty. We slept for 10 hours, much to the joy of the cat who switched between curling up beside my head and snuggling under my arm on a regular rotation.

I rose from bed and almost immediately began a long, seratonin producing workout on the Wii. WG switched between doing his own workout and checking job sites, oh, and making the cat make funny noises.

The, it was lunch time. We ate, we watched a movie, we relaxed as the sun shone through the windows and the cat slept soundly in its rays.

The word "wedding" did not cross our lips. Nor did any of the phrases associated with this stage of wedding planning: favor, program, RSVP. Nope. Without even trying, we created a space free of wedding talk.

We did nothing. And it meant everything.

In Which I Have a Complete Meltdown

There are too many things going on right now. As Ms. Flopkins told me the other day, the things going on right now are all good, but they are still stressful.

I'm moving, leaving a job of 5+ years, getting married and starting a new career all in a couple of months time. It's like I looked at a list of the most stressful things a person can do in her life and decided to just check off four of them all at once. Why not? Saves the stress on another day.

Except, this means that my bucket is full. I'm full to the brim and each new drop just pushes me over the edge. It's not fair to the people around me.

Then, yesterday.

My supervisor comes up to me, just about five minutes before she is set to flee the building and starts this conversation:

Her: I need to talk to you about the situation with Mr. X.
Me: Whaa? I haven't even had any interaction with Mr. X in months
Her: Exactly, he thinks you're avoiding him.

The conversation just degraded from there. So, this morning, with my bucket overflowing, I decided I needed a pick-me-up. Being at work right now, with this particular type of supervisor, is not easy for me. I called my dad, and he met me at Starbucks. I bought us each a coffee and had some quick conversation, and the world is good again.

But, that's just part of the equation. Earlier in the week, I had a meltdown and directed it at my bridesmaids. I'm owning up to it "in public" here, because I think it's important for people to know that, to borrow a phrase from my soon-to-be husband, weddings "eat your soul." Haha. Planning this wedding has, in many ways, been marvelous. I've gotten to think about my lifetime with WG and revel in the fact that my family's about to get a whole heckava lot bigger and significantly more Oklahoman. I have also had fights with my parents, crying jags to WG (he fixed me, as he tends to do when I'm broken) and now, a meltdown about my bridesmaids, via e-mail of course.

Because that's the best way to handle emotional issues...in a forum completely devoid of context. Oy.

I feel like I've smoothed things over, at least as best as they can be for now. My already married bridesmaid understands and is trying ever so hard to keep me grounded. Another is someone I fight with like a sister, and I have faith that we'll keep on loving each other through this. My maid of honor, however, seems to have left the planet.

I know that, come wedding day, though, everyone will be there, and the day will be beautiful.

And I am taking the advice of all the Sadie, Sadie, Married Ladies I've talked to recently and am focusing on WG and our life together, forgetting all the hullabaloo that goes into a wedding.

It's a Good Idea...Wedding Edition

It's a good idea to have several equally talented women as your bridesmaids in case your maid of honor regularly has to go out of town

It's a good idea to leave yourself plenty of time to decide on just what kind of favor you want. It could take three weeks for the containers to arrive.

It's a good idea to pair conversations between you and your guy about wedding details with a homemade meal, dessert and a yummy beverage.

It's a good idea, though it may seem crazy, to take a few full weekends off from planning, even one just shortly before the wedding.

It's a good idea to have a second reception for the family that all lives in the same state far away from the wedding location. It's especially good if the groom's family plans this reception, as it keeps them rather busy in the time before the big day.

It's a good idea to find a place for the two of you to live together before the wedding.

It's a good idea to practice any silly things you may have planned several weeks before the wedding when you still have time to change your mind.

It's a good idea to take your mom along for several small shopping trips to get all the odd little clothes you'll need on the day of the wedding -- shoes, undergarments, shawls, etc. Don't try to do it all at once, unless, of course, you want to drive yourself crazy.

It's a good idea to be incredibly flexible and understand that, unless you want to become a bridezilla, there's no way in he** you're getting everything you want on your wedding day.

It's a good idea to have your bachelorette party several weeks before your wedding so that the bruises will have cleared up by the time you walk down the aisle.