It has been a whirlwind few weeks for me. The madness started at my dad's birthday dinner on August 31st. My brother, Mark, started taking classes at DePaul so my mom was reviewing her benefits to see what they had to do so he could take classes for free. In doing this, she discovered that I still qualified to take graduate level classes there for half-price so long as I registered for them before my 26th birthday. On September 6th, I celebrated my 25th...a year left and counting. I've always intended to get my MBA, I was actually planning to start classes next fall, probably at DePaul. The prospect of saving what would come to $12,000 was too good to pass up so clearly I had to speed up my timeline a bit!
Talking to Christine, my Alpha Chi big sister, in mid-September, we reviewed my plan for the next month. I had to start and finish my DePaul application including 2 recommendation letters and 2 essays by October 1st. I had to register for, study, and take the GMAT shortly thereafter. I wanted to mail my save-the-dates by the 9 month mark (September 21st). This super killer treasury project was FINALLY going live on October 1st. I had to shop for bridesmaid dresses when my maid of honor was in town October 8th-12th. I was getting my wisdom teeth out on October 10th. Then everything else...2 formal events on back-to-back Fridays, starting a new tutoring program I'm piloting for Big Shoulders Fund, assorted other commitments...
On the plus side, Christine didn't feel nearly as overwhelmed by her September 17th deadline anymore!
I am proud to say, that as of October 18th, I've completed all of the above and more. Once again. I have to say I am so incredibly grateful to my supportive friends, family, and coworkers! My manager and the VP of our group commented I was going to be pretty damn busy come January, but never once discouraged me from applying and wrote/submitted my recommendation letters ahead of schedule during a super busy time at work for us all. My friend Amanda was awesome about reviewing my essays on short-notice since I have totally forgotten how to write anything other than business emails and blog posts (thankfully I rediscovered those skills prior to the GMAT). My sister, Erica, and Dan were rockstar save-the-date stuffers and lickers (and thanks to my mom for letting me use her printer!) My local bridesmaids were super flexible about dedicating 2 weekday evenings in a row to bridesmaid dress shopping, didn't mind that I was doing GMAT flashcards on my phone in between dress showings on Tuesday, and gave wisdom teeth advise while we walked around on Wednesday (2 of them had been to the same dentist I was heading to, and all 3 of them got theirs out a normal age). Allison and Erica were snack packing pros for those outings as well!
As much as I dreaded the GMAT, I totally kicked ass getting a 690 overall score (lets not talking about that 50 percentile math score) and just a little more than 2 weeks after submitting my application I got my acceptance letter from DePaul! Of course with my score I'm starting to wonder if I'm selling myself short by not applying to a more difficult school, but I'll work through that soon.
Most importantly, Dan was there through literally everything. Stuffing envelopes, pretending to be interested in bridesmaid dresses, reviewing my essays, easily sleeping through alarm clocks at 2am so I could work with the developers, doing engagement pictures while sick, being my date and for one evening, my purse, practicing football with me so I'm not completely worthless, driving to freaking Addison to look at limos instead of playing GTA V, letting me win the towel color for our registry...I mean everything. Let's not even talk about the whole wisdom teeth situation-I'm not sure Dan's ever been more desperate to leave the apartment. I'll admit that I was crying day 1 because I didn't want to drink my food anymore. In my mind, I'm some diminished version of superwoman, but in reality I would be nothing without everyone who's standing with me. I'm sure this past month is just a very small snapshot of how much I'll be relying on them between January and June!
Friday, October 18, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Budgets and Grandparents
August ended up being a pricey month for wedding preparations between dress, photographer, and dj deposits coming at once! Even though the numbers I've been looking at on my budget are scary big (both my part and the total), I don't think it really hit me until I started transferring money out of my savings account when I've been so good about putting it in there for the past year and a half. I tried to remind myself that this is one of those "big life events" that are exactly what savings accounts exist for...which worked most of the time.
During one of my [few and far between] runs (hence why I haven't been blogging as often...), I was reflecting about my grandparents. Both of my dad's parents passed away a long time ago-when I was 6 and 16. My mom's father died a year ago January, he is survived by his second wife who I've met a total of once. My grandma's second husband passed away a couple of months ago but Alzheimers really took him from the family long before then-only Danny was kind of enough to ask after his health in the past few years (we never really liked him). My mom's mom is now the only living grandparent for either Dan or me who might make it to our wedding. However, she just got diagnosed with cancer again (same kind after over 5 years in remission...don't understand that one) and her short-term memory is almost non-existent. The good thing about that is every time she hears Dan and I are getting married she gets excited all over again. She LOVES Dan and think's he's very handsome :) Also means she doesn't remember other things like the fact that my aunt and uncle got divorced...but life's better that way, right?
Anyways, I want to acknowledge my grandparents in some way (and Dan's too, if he cares to suggest it) so I've been trying to come up with anything I could take of theirs to use on my big day. My biggest struggle with involving family heirlooms is the divorce rate in my family-my mom has 1 sibling who stayed married and her parents didn't either. So I feel weird having an emblem from anyone on her side because of that. However, my dad's side of the family has lots of long-lasting marriages, and lots of people who chose a religious vocation...perhaps these go hand in hand? As I dug through jewelry I inherited from my paternal grandmother, I came across a lot of beautiful but slightly out-of-date pieces as well as no fewer than 4 rosaries. Easy way to incorporate that part of the family-rosary somewhere in my dress or maybe wrapped around my bouquet (thanks for the idea Christine!) I also have a photo of my paternal grandparents from very early in their relationship displayed in our apartment that I hope to incorporate somehow as well.
After my fashion consultation with Elizabeth, I decided to wear my pearls for our engagement pictures next week. The necklace was a confirmation present from my dad's sister, the earrings were a confirmation present from my childhood nanny, and the bracelet made for/gifted to me by my dad's brother/my godfather out of some pearls they found at my grandmother's house. I'm so excited to be able to honor all of these wonderful people and their beautiful marriages in photos that will be documented for a long time to come!
And now coming full circle. A large portion of the money I'll be personally contributing to the wedding is a result of the sale of my car. Every time I looked at dresses or photographers, I'd think to myself what piece of the car is paying for that particular expense. Really romantic, right? I realized though, that almost half the money I used to initially purchase the car was a gift from my maternal grandfather. He was convinced he was dying several years ago and gifted us all our inheritance as our Christmas present back in 2009. I still remember talking to Erica on the phone and her mentioning that our checks from Grandpa arrived-I thought she misread where the decimal point was because they were much more than our usual Christmas present. The money was intended for my college fund but since I saved my parents so much money with scholarships (and studying abroad in Poland), they allowed me to use it to purchase a car that following summer. 2.5 years later when it was time to sell, well, I officially made the worst investment of my life, haha. An investment guaranteed to be worth less than it was initially. Nice job, Sarah.
Anyways, now instead of thinking that my dress cost as much as all the upholstery and interior decor in the car and my photographer/photos will cost as much as most of the parts under the hood, I think of them instead as being my inheritance from my grandfather. Since I haven't thought of a way to honor/remember my grandmother, I'll keep praying that her health stabilizes enough for her to attend in person, and maybe cry just a little bit that I'm taking Dan off the market!
During one of my [few and far between] runs (hence why I haven't been blogging as often...), I was reflecting about my grandparents. Both of my dad's parents passed away a long time ago-when I was 6 and 16. My mom's father died a year ago January, he is survived by his second wife who I've met a total of once. My grandma's second husband passed away a couple of months ago but Alzheimers really took him from the family long before then-only Danny was kind of enough to ask after his health in the past few years (we never really liked him). My mom's mom is now the only living grandparent for either Dan or me who might make it to our wedding. However, she just got diagnosed with cancer again (same kind after over 5 years in remission...don't understand that one) and her short-term memory is almost non-existent. The good thing about that is every time she hears Dan and I are getting married she gets excited all over again. She LOVES Dan and think's he's very handsome :) Also means she doesn't remember other things like the fact that my aunt and uncle got divorced...but life's better that way, right?
Anyways, I want to acknowledge my grandparents in some way (and Dan's too, if he cares to suggest it) so I've been trying to come up with anything I could take of theirs to use on my big day. My biggest struggle with involving family heirlooms is the divorce rate in my family-my mom has 1 sibling who stayed married and her parents didn't either. So I feel weird having an emblem from anyone on her side because of that. However, my dad's side of the family has lots of long-lasting marriages, and lots of people who chose a religious vocation...perhaps these go hand in hand? As I dug through jewelry I inherited from my paternal grandmother, I came across a lot of beautiful but slightly out-of-date pieces as well as no fewer than 4 rosaries. Easy way to incorporate that part of the family-rosary somewhere in my dress or maybe wrapped around my bouquet (thanks for the idea Christine!) I also have a photo of my paternal grandparents from very early in their relationship displayed in our apartment that I hope to incorporate somehow as well.
After my fashion consultation with Elizabeth, I decided to wear my pearls for our engagement pictures next week. The necklace was a confirmation present from my dad's sister, the earrings were a confirmation present from my childhood nanny, and the bracelet made for/gifted to me by my dad's brother/my godfather out of some pearls they found at my grandmother's house. I'm so excited to be able to honor all of these wonderful people and their beautiful marriages in photos that will be documented for a long time to come!
And now coming full circle. A large portion of the money I'll be personally contributing to the wedding is a result of the sale of my car. Every time I looked at dresses or photographers, I'd think to myself what piece of the car is paying for that particular expense. Really romantic, right? I realized though, that almost half the money I used to initially purchase the car was a gift from my maternal grandfather. He was convinced he was dying several years ago and gifted us all our inheritance as our Christmas present back in 2009. I still remember talking to Erica on the phone and her mentioning that our checks from Grandpa arrived-I thought she misread where the decimal point was because they were much more than our usual Christmas present. The money was intended for my college fund but since I saved my parents so much money with scholarships (and studying abroad in Poland), they allowed me to use it to purchase a car that following summer. 2.5 years later when it was time to sell, well, I officially made the worst investment of my life, haha. An investment guaranteed to be worth less than it was initially. Nice job, Sarah.
Anyways, now instead of thinking that my dress cost as much as all the upholstery and interior decor in the car and my photographer/photos will cost as much as most of the parts under the hood, I think of them instead as being my inheritance from my grandfather. Since I haven't thought of a way to honor/remember my grandmother, I'll keep praying that her health stabilizes enough for her to attend in person, and maybe cry just a little bit that I'm taking Dan off the market!
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Amazing Support aka Dress Shopping!
Its been a whirlwind week for me. Dan's been out of town since last Sunday-the longest we've been apart since we moved in together (1 year as of August 11th, isn't it crazy?!), which makes everything else both easier and harder. I've had an easier time getting stuff done, and by stuff I mean working seemingly nonstop. Its been an absolutely crazy week at work what with trying to coordinate testing for 100+ people and feeling other pieces of the project (you know, the part that I've been pretty much singularly working on for the past 13 months) slip through my fingers a little bit more each day. I ended up working from home two days this week just to maintain my cool. It was a pretty effective strategy except that Piper is MAKING ME NUTS!!! I'm pretty sure she's suffering from separation anxiety with Dan gone although she definitely didn't do this last time he was out of town. Sometimes its cute and she curls up next to me in bed-like literally make me move closer to the middle so she has room-but then she'll occasionally bite me for no reason and my allergies have been awful. She's also the pickiest former alley cat ever. She has to have canned food, and not just any canned food, but no longer eats pate or sliced meat, it has to be shredded. Ridiculous.
Enough about the cat, although look out for Facebook album titled "I have a problem with taking pictures of my cat" shortly because I need to delete them from my phone.
Bordering this hell-week was dress shopping!! Our first trip was to David's Bridal a week ago Monday. I figured it was a good place to start since I could easily browse everything online and had a wide selection. I brought my mom, Dan's mom, and my champ wedding-dress-picture-taking-bridesmaid Laura! Pretty surreal experience trying on a dress for the first time if I do say so myself, and I really liked the ones I found there. However, with the ridiculous amount of money going into this wedding I couldn't wrap my mind around buying a dress that cost just a little more than our per headcount cost for the reception so knew I'd keep looking.
Trip two was kind of last minute, but since I had to drive Dan down to work on Sunday to go on his little trip I made an appointment at Eva's Bridal in Oak Lawn. The first dress I came out in, my mom made a face and told me to take it off but it ended up being one of mine (and her) favorites. There was definitely a huge selection and we barely looked through half of it during our appointment time, but ended up finding 2 very different dresses that I adored! Buying on impulse/during an early shopping trip might work for some people, but I knew I wouldn't be prepared to purchase on just my second trip so we made another appointment to come back the following Sunday. So far Eva's was winning...
The appointment I was most excited about was today at a local wedding boutique in Lincoln Park. I've only heard great reviews about Weddings 826 and I pass by it all the time so to say that I was a little eager is definitely an understatement. They have a manageable selection of gowns and give you the opportunity to order or buy from the rack. It was exactly the experience I had been imagining-we were offered champagne, water, or tea and had a nice room with all the dresses and curtains that pulled together for the changing room. I was once again accompanied by my wedding-dress-picture-taking-and-editing-bridesmaid, my mom, and even dragged my sister into it by letting her spend time with Piper beforehand. Fell in love with another 2 dresses (my magic number) which were very similar in style but had subtle differences that I couldn't possibly decide between today.
After making a pit stop to browse invitations at All She Wrote (love shopping locally!!), hitting up the olive oil store, having lunch, and buying up half of Nordstrom Rack's junior's section (for my sister...I got some awesome new red heels, and a super cute dress that will probably be my shower dress for only $20!), we made it to Macy's bridal salon. Now, being a born and bred Chicagoan, I have a little bit of an issue with the whole Macy's buying out Marshall Field's situation but they do have dresses that aren't available in any other stores locally so thought I'd give it a shot. Have to say the experience was not as impressive considering what we'd been through in the morning. Less drink selections, multiple brides sharing the same mirror/viewing platform, could only see about 20 dresses displayed, but thankfully I had done my research and brought a large selection of pictures. Unfortunately, I guess a lot of the dresses I pulled are from the new season and they didn't have them in stock yet. Regardless, I did manage to find another 2 dresses, of course! They were actually similar to each other but different from the two similar ones I liked at Weddings 826. I think I actually managed to narrow it down to one, but its so hard to really know you like the dress when there are alterations in how I'd have it ordered. The one I really liked I'd be getting rid of some of the beading and ordering in a different color. Similarly, the ones I liked before I would be taking some of the poof out and one dress would be a different color.
So tomorrow will be repeat trip to Eva's Bridal. I was able to find all the dresses I liked today online (and took pics at the first salon) so I have a visual to compare to and Eva's might have the ones from Weddings 826 as well (although I'd rather buy at the place nearby just for convenience). The dresses I liked at Eva's last week are pretty dissimilar but each one is like one of the pairs I liked today. Hoping I can make a better decision on what I love tomorrow!
After the excitement of the day/in preparation for Dan coming home tomorrow I ended up staying in tonight which worked out perfectly since I finished the third book in a series my mom wants to borrow-yes, a real, live paperback book! I may have bought a few books (like 30ish) in the past week so gotta put those away before Dan comes home!
Really, the whole point of this post before I went on a really excited wedding dress tangent, was to talk about the unbelievable support we've gotten in the first 2 months of the planning process. We truly have the most amazing friends and family. I've been meaning to do this post for awhile with this picture-but I'm glad I procrastinated because we got 2 more cards this week!
Obviously I rearranged a little to get all of these in one picture, but our fridge is filling up with best wishes from the people who have waited just as long for this step as we have :) In case I don't say it enough-thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you! I'm thrilled that everyone accepted my invitation to be a part of our wedding party including the ringbearer and flowergirl I just asked last week! Well, technically my dad asked the ring bearer's mom but I got a very excited call from my aunt at 7:30 am last Monday and sent him some diving rings to "practice" with! My flowergirl totally made my day by emailing me saying that she's excited to be part of the wedding and loves her tank top! Even Dan's been awesome in helping make wedding decisions such as the colors, the photographer, the videographer, choosing a website design, and ruling out any dresses he won't marry me in! Now he's got a 5 item to-do list to complete before the 10 month mark so we'll see how that goes!
Special shout-out to everyone who's been hanging in there with me during this week. As much as I miss Dan and the fact that even a hug from him makes life a little bit more tolerable, I have such a great support circle! Laura, Dan L, and Kristen have been fielding text messages/gchats/lync messages from me the past few weeks that involve requests to drink, virtual screams, death threats, and sometimes just strings of letters from me banging on my keyboard like this "hdoiaf;lksafds". I also had "date nights" with my second and third favorite Dans (although depending on the day, they might be in first place!) which were awesome and things I need to make time for more often. A phone convo with Melissa was long overdue and I know I have others to catch up with too! Would have given Erica anything she wanted for letting me sleep through the night/feeding Piper at 5:30 this morning even though I was a horrible Wedding Friday date. After lots of girly bonding time today, its date night with my dad tomorrow just before I get to see my Dan again! By the way, thanks parents of the late 80s/early 90s--they really all had to be Daniel didn't they?!
Enough about the cat, although look out for Facebook album titled "I have a problem with taking pictures of my cat" shortly because I need to delete them from my phone.
Bordering this hell-week was dress shopping!! Our first trip was to David's Bridal a week ago Monday. I figured it was a good place to start since I could easily browse everything online and had a wide selection. I brought my mom, Dan's mom, and my champ wedding-dress-picture-taking-bridesmaid Laura! Pretty surreal experience trying on a dress for the first time if I do say so myself, and I really liked the ones I found there. However, with the ridiculous amount of money going into this wedding I couldn't wrap my mind around buying a dress that cost just a little more than our per headcount cost for the reception so knew I'd keep looking.
Trip two was kind of last minute, but since I had to drive Dan down to work on Sunday to go on his little trip I made an appointment at Eva's Bridal in Oak Lawn. The first dress I came out in, my mom made a face and told me to take it off but it ended up being one of mine (and her) favorites. There was definitely a huge selection and we barely looked through half of it during our appointment time, but ended up finding 2 very different dresses that I adored! Buying on impulse/during an early shopping trip might work for some people, but I knew I wouldn't be prepared to purchase on just my second trip so we made another appointment to come back the following Sunday. So far Eva's was winning...
The appointment I was most excited about was today at a local wedding boutique in Lincoln Park. I've only heard great reviews about Weddings 826 and I pass by it all the time so to say that I was a little eager is definitely an understatement. They have a manageable selection of gowns and give you the opportunity to order or buy from the rack. It was exactly the experience I had been imagining-we were offered champagne, water, or tea and had a nice room with all the dresses and curtains that pulled together for the changing room. I was once again accompanied by my wedding-dress-picture-taking-and-editing-bridesmaid, my mom, and even dragged my sister into it by letting her spend time with Piper beforehand. Fell in love with another 2 dresses (my magic number) which were very similar in style but had subtle differences that I couldn't possibly decide between today.
After making a pit stop to browse invitations at All She Wrote (love shopping locally!!), hitting up the olive oil store, having lunch, and buying up half of Nordstrom Rack's junior's section (for my sister...I got some awesome new red heels, and a super cute dress that will probably be my shower dress for only $20!), we made it to Macy's bridal salon. Now, being a born and bred Chicagoan, I have a little bit of an issue with the whole Macy's buying out Marshall Field's situation but they do have dresses that aren't available in any other stores locally so thought I'd give it a shot. Have to say the experience was not as impressive considering what we'd been through in the morning. Less drink selections, multiple brides sharing the same mirror/viewing platform, could only see about 20 dresses displayed, but thankfully I had done my research and brought a large selection of pictures. Unfortunately, I guess a lot of the dresses I pulled are from the new season and they didn't have them in stock yet. Regardless, I did manage to find another 2 dresses, of course! They were actually similar to each other but different from the two similar ones I liked at Weddings 826. I think I actually managed to narrow it down to one, but its so hard to really know you like the dress when there are alterations in how I'd have it ordered. The one I really liked I'd be getting rid of some of the beading and ordering in a different color. Similarly, the ones I liked before I would be taking some of the poof out and one dress would be a different color.
So tomorrow will be repeat trip to Eva's Bridal. I was able to find all the dresses I liked today online (and took pics at the first salon) so I have a visual to compare to and Eva's might have the ones from Weddings 826 as well (although I'd rather buy at the place nearby just for convenience). The dresses I liked at Eva's last week are pretty dissimilar but each one is like one of the pairs I liked today. Hoping I can make a better decision on what I love tomorrow!
After the excitement of the day/in preparation for Dan coming home tomorrow I ended up staying in tonight which worked out perfectly since I finished the third book in a series my mom wants to borrow-yes, a real, live paperback book! I may have bought a few books (like 30ish) in the past week so gotta put those away before Dan comes home!
Really, the whole point of this post before I went on a really excited wedding dress tangent, was to talk about the unbelievable support we've gotten in the first 2 months of the planning process. We truly have the most amazing friends and family. I've been meaning to do this post for awhile with this picture-but I'm glad I procrastinated because we got 2 more cards this week!
Obviously I rearranged a little to get all of these in one picture, but our fridge is filling up with best wishes from the people who have waited just as long for this step as we have :) In case I don't say it enough-thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you! I'm thrilled that everyone accepted my invitation to be a part of our wedding party including the ringbearer and flowergirl I just asked last week! Well, technically my dad asked the ring bearer's mom but I got a very excited call from my aunt at 7:30 am last Monday and sent him some diving rings to "practice" with! My flowergirl totally made my day by emailing me saying that she's excited to be part of the wedding and loves her tank top! Even Dan's been awesome in helping make wedding decisions such as the colors, the photographer, the videographer, choosing a website design, and ruling out any dresses he won't marry me in! Now he's got a 5 item to-do list to complete before the 10 month mark so we'll see how that goes!
Special shout-out to everyone who's been hanging in there with me during this week. As much as I miss Dan and the fact that even a hug from him makes life a little bit more tolerable, I have such a great support circle! Laura, Dan L, and Kristen have been fielding text messages/gchats/lync messages from me the past few weeks that involve requests to drink, virtual screams, death threats, and sometimes just strings of letters from me banging on my keyboard like this "hdoiaf;lksafds". I also had "date nights" with my second and third favorite Dans (although depending on the day, they might be in first place!) which were awesome and things I need to make time for more often. A phone convo with Melissa was long overdue and I know I have others to catch up with too! Would have given Erica anything she wanted for letting me sleep through the night/feeding Piper at 5:30 this morning even though I was a horrible Wedding Friday date. After lots of girly bonding time today, its date night with my dad tomorrow just before I get to see my Dan again! By the way, thanks parents of the late 80s/early 90s--they really all had to be Daniel didn't they?!
Sunday, June 23, 2013
A New Transition
I've spent the last month or so trying to figure out what to do with this blog. Officially, the transition I started writing the blog about is complete and we've now moved onto a new one. I'd have to say our first transition was pretty successful. We managed to eliminate the remaining 700ish miles between us at the beginning of August and went from being separated by half the country to sharing a bed every night. Not that there haven't been plenty of bumps along the way-Dan didn't have a job when we signed the lease which was one of the scariest things I've ever done; the chore chart was doomed from the moment I hung it on the refrigerator; we've discovered annoying habits about each other like how particular Dan is about the way to hang toilet paper/paper towel rolls and my tendency to have up to 5 pairs of shoes lined up next to the bed instead of in the closet; I had more than one fit over not being engaged, and Dan put up with 2+ hour commutes on more than one occasion after working a 10-hour day just to live where I want to.
Despite all of the craziness, we've learned so much about each other from living together for the past 11 months and I'm incredibly grateful that we made the leap. And, although I may or may not ever admit this to Dan, I lucked out with him not proposing soon enough to have my dream September 7th, 2013 wedding date seeing as my work project go-live is probably getting pushed back to September 9th...sometimes fate works out in our favor!
Now, the real fun begins! I attempted to take some time to enjoy the fact that we were [finally] engaged, but that probably only lasted about 3 days before I started cracking down more on wedding planning. Well, actually, I made my mom buy wedding magazines the day after Dan proposed so I can't really claim I waited that long but still, I tried. So we had the really fun conversation aka the budget talk with my parents just a few days later, which led into the next logical conversation-guest list!! Apparently my dad thought I was crazy as he just asked a fellow Ascension mom today if her daughter had requested a guest list within a week of the proposal. Anyways, guest list is what drives the expense and good thing we addressed it early on since my mom listed 64 people she wanted to invite to my 200 person wedding. And no, that did not include her or my siblings. So much for that suggested 20 people per parent limit....
As soon as I got that news, I knew I'd desperately need some saner people to help me get through the next year. First wedding DIY: bridesmaid ask gifts! After some thorough research (aka time spent on pinterest), I determined exactly how I wanted to ask them-as shown in pictures at the bottom! I got inspiration from a number of blogs and pins-for reference feel free to check my bridesmaids board, they're all on there!
Since half of my bridesmaids live out of state, they got their presents in some ugly boxes and I'm sure my attempt at wrapping everything nicely inside didn't make it during the trip to Nashville, Hilton Head, and Arlington. Sorry ladies! I also had to alter the margarita pouch/margarita glass for my sister since she's only 15 so she got her favorite Arizona Iced tea an some random yellow cup. Yes, I did attempt to match the scrapbook paper on the outside of the bags to the cup to the margaritas. My favorite part of the ask gifts though were the shirts. You can order these online for somewhere between $15-20 but I absolutely hate paying for shipping and I wanted them like now, so I decided to make them! It required trips to 2 different Michael's stores to purchase all the glittery letters they had (sorry to any other Chicago crafters who wanted iron-on silver glitter letters). Piper also found a new source of amusement through knocking the letters off the counter as I was trying to iron them on, I just found a B underneath our oven when I was cleaning yesterday. Its probably the B for my Bride tank top that I'm going to try to convince Allison-my amazing MOH-to make for me :)The backs of the shirts have the year I met each bridesmaid, which only Allison and Elizabeth guessed when the first saw them-good job :) Totally photo op for bachelorette party/wedding morning prep! I also wrote a note to everyone to include in the package. Half the group laughed and the other half cried when reading them, which is good because I'll definitely be needing some company to cry with me and make me laugh throughout this year and on the big day!
Anyways, clearly I'm really excited about the bridesmaid presents and procrastinating doing other things like working on my personal and my wedding budget now that we've got the prices for the church. So I'll leave you all with some pictures! And a warning-this will probably turn into a wedding progress blog so I would love to have you along for this next transition but I understand if its not your thing-thanks for reading!!
Despite all of the craziness, we've learned so much about each other from living together for the past 11 months and I'm incredibly grateful that we made the leap. And, although I may or may not ever admit this to Dan, I lucked out with him not proposing soon enough to have my dream September 7th, 2013 wedding date seeing as my work project go-live is probably getting pushed back to September 9th...sometimes fate works out in our favor!
Now, the real fun begins! I attempted to take some time to enjoy the fact that we were [finally] engaged, but that probably only lasted about 3 days before I started cracking down more on wedding planning. Well, actually, I made my mom buy wedding magazines the day after Dan proposed so I can't really claim I waited that long but still, I tried. So we had the really fun conversation aka the budget talk with my parents just a few days later, which led into the next logical conversation-guest list!! Apparently my dad thought I was crazy as he just asked a fellow Ascension mom today if her daughter had requested a guest list within a week of the proposal. Anyways, guest list is what drives the expense and good thing we addressed it early on since my mom listed 64 people she wanted to invite to my 200 person wedding. And no, that did not include her or my siblings. So much for that suggested 20 people per parent limit....
As soon as I got that news, I knew I'd desperately need some saner people to help me get through the next year. First wedding DIY: bridesmaid ask gifts! After some thorough research (aka time spent on pinterest), I determined exactly how I wanted to ask them-as shown in pictures at the bottom! I got inspiration from a number of blogs and pins-for reference feel free to check my bridesmaids board, they're all on there!
Since half of my bridesmaids live out of state, they got their presents in some ugly boxes and I'm sure my attempt at wrapping everything nicely inside didn't make it during the trip to Nashville, Hilton Head, and Arlington. Sorry ladies! I also had to alter the margarita pouch/margarita glass for my sister since she's only 15 so she got her favorite Arizona Iced tea an some random yellow cup. Yes, I did attempt to match the scrapbook paper on the outside of the bags to the cup to the margaritas. My favorite part of the ask gifts though were the shirts. You can order these online for somewhere between $15-20 but I absolutely hate paying for shipping and I wanted them like now, so I decided to make them! It required trips to 2 different Michael's stores to purchase all the glittery letters they had (sorry to any other Chicago crafters who wanted iron-on silver glitter letters). Piper also found a new source of amusement through knocking the letters off the counter as I was trying to iron them on, I just found a B underneath our oven when I was cleaning yesterday. Its probably the B for my Bride tank top that I'm going to try to convince Allison-my amazing MOH-to make for me :)The backs of the shirts have the year I met each bridesmaid, which only Allison and Elizabeth guessed when the first saw them-good job :) Totally photo op for bachelorette party/wedding morning prep! I also wrote a note to everyone to include in the package. Half the group laughed and the other half cried when reading them, which is good because I'll definitely be needing some company to cry with me and make me laugh throughout this year and on the big day!
Anyways, clearly I'm really excited about the bridesmaid presents and procrastinating doing other things like working on my personal and my wedding budget now that we've got the prices for the church. So I'll leave you all with some pictures! And a warning-this will probably turn into a wedding progress blog so I would love to have you along for this next transition but I understand if its not your thing-thanks for reading!!
Sunday, May 26, 2013
2,371 Days
Last week Dan told me were going out for dinner this past Thursday night. He refused to tell me where we were going or anything about it other than dinner is at 8 and I need to be ready by 7:15. I don't really do well with surprises, unless I don't know about them....if that makes any sense. So I kept trying to get more information out of him. I found out we could either take the el or drive there so I figured it must be in the city because 45 minutes wouldn't give us enough time to get to Evanston or Oak Park for dinner on the train. I also found out there was a dress code-only nice jeans and no gym shoes, that sort of thing.
Just to be prepared, I had to get my nails done on Wednesday night so I got my first ever no-chip manicure. I was pretty sure the big day was going to be sometime over the weekend and I needed to be prepared, obviously (my mom taught me well!)
By Thursday afternoon I had a pretty good guess of where we were going. Dan said he hadn't been there before and it wasn't a recommendation from someone else. I deduced it must be a pretty well known, dressy, place. I had picked out my outfit the night before, had just enough time (now that I'm working 7:30-4:30....) to go to muscle max and get ready by my 7:15 deadline. I was, astonishingly, only 2 minutes late. And I told Dan I would have been on time if he hadn't made me change the laundry. So I'm putting my coat on by the door, and see Dan tying his shoe. I kinda looked at him funny because every time he jokes about proposing to me he says he's going to be pretending to tie his shoe and just pull out a ring box. And that's pretty much what happened. "While I'm down here I may as well kill 2 birds with one stone, right?" After a little more chitchat and him convincing me I actually needed to walk down the hall so I wasn't just staring at him from the doorway, he said those magic words that I've been waiting to hear for, well, about 2,371 days "Sarah Breckinridge Wallace, will you marry me?". And he opened up the box of the EXACT ring I've been sending him links of for about the past year. Better yet, he caught it all on camera :)
I had this master plan of how/when I was going to tell everyone about our engagement, which of course didn't get followed. Somebody was too excited and got texts all through dinner asking him how it went. I didn't let him reply, so officially our waitress at the Signature Room (exactly where I thought we were going-Dan was kind of disappointed I guessed but I said its just proof of how well I know him) was the first person I told we were engaged....but I called my mom after dinner and my dad after that who was in the car with Danny and Erica and my grand plan generally went downhill from there.
So, now that everyone I need to tell by phone call, text, or in person (minus work...working from home on Friday got me out of that situation until Tuesday!) is complete-you, my wonderful and dedicated blog readers are next on the list! Facebook status will be changed shortly-the last step!
Just to be prepared, I had to get my nails done on Wednesday night so I got my first ever no-chip manicure. I was pretty sure the big day was going to be sometime over the weekend and I needed to be prepared, obviously (my mom taught me well!)
By Thursday afternoon I had a pretty good guess of where we were going. Dan said he hadn't been there before and it wasn't a recommendation from someone else. I deduced it must be a pretty well known, dressy, place. I had picked out my outfit the night before, had just enough time (now that I'm working 7:30-4:30....) to go to muscle max and get ready by my 7:15 deadline. I was, astonishingly, only 2 minutes late. And I told Dan I would have been on time if he hadn't made me change the laundry. So I'm putting my coat on by the door, and see Dan tying his shoe. I kinda looked at him funny because every time he jokes about proposing to me he says he's going to be pretending to tie his shoe and just pull out a ring box. And that's pretty much what happened. "While I'm down here I may as well kill 2 birds with one stone, right?" After a little more chitchat and him convincing me I actually needed to walk down the hall so I wasn't just staring at him from the doorway, he said those magic words that I've been waiting to hear for, well, about 2,371 days "Sarah Breckinridge Wallace, will you marry me?". And he opened up the box of the EXACT ring I've been sending him links of for about the past year. Better yet, he caught it all on camera :)
I had this master plan of how/when I was going to tell everyone about our engagement, which of course didn't get followed. Somebody was too excited and got texts all through dinner asking him how it went. I didn't let him reply, so officially our waitress at the Signature Room (exactly where I thought we were going-Dan was kind of disappointed I guessed but I said its just proof of how well I know him) was the first person I told we were engaged....but I called my mom after dinner and my dad after that who was in the car with Danny and Erica and my grand plan generally went downhill from there.
So, now that everyone I need to tell by phone call, text, or in person (minus work...working from home on Friday got me out of that situation until Tuesday!) is complete-you, my wonderful and dedicated blog readers are next on the list! Facebook status will be changed shortly-the last step!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Surviving a Long Weekend Alone
A few days ago my friend Kelsey texted me asking for long-distance relationship advice. I think its probably hard to give advice that works for everyone, but I let her know what worked for Dan and me.
"Keep busy, stay in contact daily even if its just texts but don't make a set time commitment like you have to facetime at 9am every night for an hour or you'll feel trapped, at the same time have something you can count on like Dan and I always sent each other the same text every night before we went to sleep". (Can you tell I was rushing to get to a meeting as I wrote that? Total run on sentence)
Kelsey said it was the best advise she's heard so far, which is good because after 5 years I should be something of an expert :) It also helped that Dan and I reused some of those long-distance skills more recently when he took a trip to North Dakota for 5 days to visit friends still up in the tundra.
For me, keeping busy was key in college and still is. Thursday evening I did my mother's day shopping and went out to a UofR dinner. Just like at college, had to invite a friend since my "guest" was 600+ miles away. Thanks to Dan L for joining me for that event for the second year in a row! Friday I spent time with my friend Elizabeth who predates Dan by about 12 years. We participated in a club crawl which was a lot of fun, minus someone picking up her coat my mistake but that's all fixed now. That's definitely an event Dan wouldn't have wanted to go to had he been around, so it worked out okay. Plus with Friday night soccer starting again, I'm always left to fend for myself on Fridays. I spent Saturday at a church retreat which I regretted signing up for by the end of a busy week but I'm so glad I went! It was nice to have some time for reflection and I met some new people who I look forward to spending more time with at young adult Catholic events. Then came Mother's Day-my favorite day of the year (not) ! After spending last mother's day in North Dakota for Dan's graduation, the one before at my graduation, and the previous two working, it was nice to have some Wallace family bonding time. Let me tell you, I make an awesome asparagus goat cheese frittata even if it takes a couple hours....
Honestly by the time that whirlwind of a weekend was over, I didn't have a lot of time to miss Dan with few exceptions. I had to clean Piper's litter box for the first time so that was a new adventure-even used the vacuum to clean up her mess, not sure I've actually used our vacuum before. But, I am happy to say that both Piper and our two plants survived 5 days with just me. Piper may have gone about 16 hours between feedings once, and I accidentally flooded the plant which led to water spilling all over the bookcase, but those are minor details. It was also a shock to realize that throwing my tupperware in the sink after work didn't result in them magically moving to the dishwasher, and if I wanted laundry done I had to do it myself. Since our heat turned off May 1st, it was a little chilly at night without someone to cuddle with....but there was also no one to shut the blinds or windows when I wanted them open during the day. Dan, you'll be happy to know that I did not revert to leaving the lid on the toilet up, you've trained me well.
I did find us falling into old habits during our time apart. Dan's teddy bear was his co-pilot on the drive, and mine snuggled with me at night. We resumed our before-bed text but didn't stay committed to any other communication. Although I didn't want to interrupt his time with friends, I was a little disappointed to not get a phone call the whole weekend. I don't really remember calling him on my trip to Richmond though, so maybe I just got what was coming :)
Anyways, I was proud of myself for remembering how to live alone, haha, even if it wasn't super fun the whole time. To make up for it, we've got a busy weekend doing our spring cleaning this weekend and lots of social activities together next weekend! So excited that Dan's done working Saturday's for a few months!
"Keep busy, stay in contact daily even if its just texts but don't make a set time commitment like you have to facetime at 9am every night for an hour or you'll feel trapped, at the same time have something you can count on like Dan and I always sent each other the same text every night before we went to sleep". (Can you tell I was rushing to get to a meeting as I wrote that? Total run on sentence)
Kelsey said it was the best advise she's heard so far, which is good because after 5 years I should be something of an expert :) It also helped that Dan and I reused some of those long-distance skills more recently when he took a trip to North Dakota for 5 days to visit friends still up in the tundra.
For me, keeping busy was key in college and still is. Thursday evening I did my mother's day shopping and went out to a UofR dinner. Just like at college, had to invite a friend since my "guest" was 600+ miles away. Thanks to Dan L for joining me for that event for the second year in a row! Friday I spent time with my friend Elizabeth who predates Dan by about 12 years. We participated in a club crawl which was a lot of fun, minus someone picking up her coat my mistake but that's all fixed now. That's definitely an event Dan wouldn't have wanted to go to had he been around, so it worked out okay. Plus with Friday night soccer starting again, I'm always left to fend for myself on Fridays. I spent Saturday at a church retreat which I regretted signing up for by the end of a busy week but I'm so glad I went! It was nice to have some time for reflection and I met some new people who I look forward to spending more time with at young adult Catholic events. Then came Mother's Day-my favorite day of the year (not) ! After spending last mother's day in North Dakota for Dan's graduation, the one before at my graduation, and the previous two working, it was nice to have some Wallace family bonding time. Let me tell you, I make an awesome asparagus goat cheese frittata even if it takes a couple hours....
Honestly by the time that whirlwind of a weekend was over, I didn't have a lot of time to miss Dan with few exceptions. I had to clean Piper's litter box for the first time so that was a new adventure-even used the vacuum to clean up her mess, not sure I've actually used our vacuum before. But, I am happy to say that both Piper and our two plants survived 5 days with just me. Piper may have gone about 16 hours between feedings once, and I accidentally flooded the plant which led to water spilling all over the bookcase, but those are minor details. It was also a shock to realize that throwing my tupperware in the sink after work didn't result in them magically moving to the dishwasher, and if I wanted laundry done I had to do it myself. Since our heat turned off May 1st, it was a little chilly at night without someone to cuddle with....but there was also no one to shut the blinds or windows when I wanted them open during the day. Dan, you'll be happy to know that I did not revert to leaving the lid on the toilet up, you've trained me well.
I did find us falling into old habits during our time apart. Dan's teddy bear was his co-pilot on the drive, and mine snuggled with me at night. We resumed our before-bed text but didn't stay committed to any other communication. Although I didn't want to interrupt his time with friends, I was a little disappointed to not get a phone call the whole weekend. I don't really remember calling him on my trip to Richmond though, so maybe I just got what was coming :)
Anyways, I was proud of myself for remembering how to live alone, haha, even if it wasn't super fun the whole time. To make up for it, we've got a busy weekend doing our spring cleaning this weekend and lots of social activities together next weekend! So excited that Dan's done working Saturday's for a few months!
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Taking Suggestions
Yesterday was probably one of the best Friday nights I've had in awhile. Dan and I finally bit the bullet and decided to get cable (I convinced him to stay in our apartment another year which saves us anywhere from $200-$500 a month depending where we decided to move...so we splurged on $50 a month for cable). On Wednesday, Dan mentioned that if the weather was good he would be working late Thursday, Friday, AND Saturday this weekend so I decided he needed to get cable for me first since I had nothing else going on. So yesterday was the first Friday since college that I sat down and watched 3 straight hours of Friday Bride Day on TLC and it was amazing. Too bad the weather was crappy and Dan ended up being home and having to put up with it too....oh well. The only thing that might have made it better would be having Melissa sitting next to me and judging too.
I've gone back and forth over the past year with loving Say Yes to the Dress, Four Weddings, and etc...mainly depending how upset I am about the lack of engagement/delay in my life plan. I'm clearly in a good place right now, mainly because I'm about 90% certain there is a ring hiding somewhere in the 600 sq ft surrounding me as we speak.
Thankfully Dan and I are being good-natured about the pending engagement. His new favorite game is trying to get me to find the ring. The other night I fell asleep really early and when we were talking the next morning he commented "You know I was going to propose to you last night but you fell asleep too early". His coworkers are trying to convince him that the only way he'll be able to surprise me with an engagement is if he proposes while I'm in the bathroom. So, as a little bit of payback, I'd love to get my readers' opinions on the following:
1. Proposal suggestions for Dan that don't involve a toilet (they also need be better than him taking me flying for the first time on New Year's Eve to see the fireworks over the lakefront-he set the bar high for himself!
2. Suggestions as to where in my apartment the ring is (I'm not actively searching yet....but you never know when I'll get bored!)
3. Tips for Dan's conversation with my dad to ask his permission. He's (Dan) horrified at the prospect of this but he's got it pretty easy: my dad doesn't own a gun and hasn't shot one probably as long as I've been alive, Dan's taller than him and can definitely outrun him, and my dad will probably start crying so it can't be that bad, right? Although my dad will likely retell the story whenever the occasion arrives so that's a little scary!
Feel free to comment on here or find one of us on facebook to throw out your opinion :)
I've gone back and forth over the past year with loving Say Yes to the Dress, Four Weddings, and etc...mainly depending how upset I am about the lack of engagement/delay in my life plan. I'm clearly in a good place right now, mainly because I'm about 90% certain there is a ring hiding somewhere in the 600 sq ft surrounding me as we speak.
Thankfully Dan and I are being good-natured about the pending engagement. His new favorite game is trying to get me to find the ring. The other night I fell asleep really early and when we were talking the next morning he commented "You know I was going to propose to you last night but you fell asleep too early". His coworkers are trying to convince him that the only way he'll be able to surprise me with an engagement is if he proposes while I'm in the bathroom. So, as a little bit of payback, I'd love to get my readers' opinions on the following:
1. Proposal suggestions for Dan that don't involve a toilet (they also need be better than him taking me flying for the first time on New Year's Eve to see the fireworks over the lakefront-he set the bar high for himself!
2. Suggestions as to where in my apartment the ring is (I'm not actively searching yet....but you never know when I'll get bored!)
3. Tips for Dan's conversation with my dad to ask his permission. He's (Dan) horrified at the prospect of this but he's got it pretty easy: my dad doesn't own a gun and hasn't shot one probably as long as I've been alive, Dan's taller than him and can definitely outrun him, and my dad will probably start crying so it can't be that bad, right? Although my dad will likely retell the story whenever the occasion arrives so that's a little scary!
Feel free to comment on here or find one of us on facebook to throw out your opinion :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)