A new home

I moved into a new apartment over the weekend. It's great... so much bigger than the old place, and NO BUGS (except the flies I accidentally let in). It has a washer/dryer and a dishwasher. I am trying to decipher the washer/dryer. No instruction manual that I can find, and it's covered in weird hieroglyphics. The machines at laundromats are always so easy to understand! This one has pictures of science beakers and sheep heads and what looks like a cloud sitting on an open book (Steven informed me that it's meant to be a cotton plant--who knew??)I think I found a manual on the internet for the washer, and now I'm pretty sure I have to go buy powder detergent instead of the liquid I always use. Blah. I just bought a new bottle, too. No luck finding a dryer manual... guess I'll just have to wing it with that one. Hopefully no clothes will be destroyed in the process.

Another con: the shower. Actually, kind of the whole bathroom. The toilet is the complete opposite of "low flow". It's like Niagara Falls in a porcelain bowl for a solid minute every time you flush. The sink is itty bitty, and pretty short. And the shower... oh, the shower. I can touch the shower head with my nose. Not by standing on my toes or tipping my head up, but just straight on--nose touching the shower head. Also, apparently all the water pressure is caught up in the toilet because the shower is like the gentlest of spring rains... not effective for rinsing hair, particularly when one must bend over backwards or do incredible yoga moves to be under the flow of water. I may have to invest in one of those plastic shower stools/seats for handicapped people just so I don't throw out my back one morning. Geeze.

I sound like I hate my new place, and that's not true. I'm just exhausted, because moving was a 3 day process. I only got to move in on Monday morning, so I had less than 24 hours to get settled before heading back to work... and then work has been batshit crazy all week long. I have explained pool passes until my throat is dry and hoarse. One coworker was gone today and the other has Thursday/Friday off, so that means even MORE work for me to do, on top of handing all customers and phone calls.... I think more and more about that poor headless chicken running around, and sympathize.

But... I have an awesome, awesome fiance. He helped me pack up my old apartment, and found a trailer I could use to move my things. He and I packed up the trailer in less than 2 hours all by ourselves. He put up with me living at his place for the weekend, he helped me clean my old apartment (even though cleaning sucks and nobody likes doing it), he arranged help for Monday morning so that the trailer was unloaded in a record 30 minutes!! and then helped me set up everything... he even came over yesterday and re-lit the pilot light for my oven, even though he has been feeling sick and could easily have stayed in bed. He called my new landlord for me to ask a question because I'm chicken and hate calling people about anything. He came by work today to see me, just because he was nearby.

I cheated and showed him photos of me in my wedding dress last week and he cried. He loves it. He put my mind totally at ease, because I've been nitpicking and worrying about whether I made the right choice. He made birds for our cake topper and they are awesome! He's been helping brainstorm music for the wedding... I love him so much. I can't wait until we live together and I don't have to even drive across town to see him. He is going to be such an awesome husband. I just hope I can be as good to him as he is to me!

I'm being sappy and gushy and nauseating, so I'll quit now, and go to bed.

More wedding stuff...

So the wedding is less than 9 months away. I'm trying not to freak out too much. ;) We hit the single digits and I realized my long engagement isn't so long anymore. Steven and I are meeting with a pastor here in town tonight to do some pre-marital counseling. The pastor at the church we're getting married in requires the counseling but wasn't going to make us drive back and forth to do it. As long as it's within the Missouri synod, it's good. Crazy Lutherans.

I thought it was kind of weird to be doing the counseling/getting to know a pastor who wouldn't be performing the ceremony, but apparently Lutheran weddings are very cut-and-dried. Not a lot of chatting about the couple. Which kind of sucks, but oh well. What matters is that we get married, not whether the pastor makes charming anecdotes. As long as he doesn't launch into a 30 minute sermon on the evils of fornication, I will be happy.

We met with a potential caterer a couple of weekends ago and I came away feeling depressed. If we have the minimum number of people come and if we go with the most affordable package, our catering would still come in $200 over budget--and that's BEFORE taxes and the 18% gratuity. Ugh. I don't really know what we're going to do. This is the cheapest option we've found. We pretty much don't have money for the reception. Nothing for table linens or centerpieces. We'll have to really cut back in other areas to have extra money for that stuff. I keep thinking of more things we need to fit into the budget... and the budget does not grow proportionally! ;)

Enough of the depressing.... on to the fun stuff.

1. Hairstyles! My inspiration board
Hairstyle Inspirations made using Polyvore

2. Cake!
We did place a deposit on the cake.
4 tiers
Bottom tier: Spice cake with cream cheese filling
2nd tier: White cake with buttercream
3rd tier: Chocolate cake with dark chocolate filling
Top tier: Marble cake
All frosted with buttercream.
Will look like the pictures in the top row, but the tiers are "petal" shaped, not round.

4. Flowers!

Flowers by shgarlow on Polyvore.com
White flowers, NO green flowers, featuring white amaryllis along with roses, hydrangea, etc.

5. Steven helps to DIY our Save-the-Date cards!

6. The Save-the-Dates themselves... we're stamping and heat embossing them. It's taking a while. I've been lazy.

7. My green wedding shoes!