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Yeah, we all do kind of stink at staying in contact, huh? I call my mom, dad, and brother almost daily, but I just can't seem to find time to stay in contact with you girls. Katherine did call me on Sunday so I spent some time talking to her. I haven't talked to Jenny since I helped her move in on May 10th. We've called each other a few times, but just end up playing phone tag.
So let's see......here's the skinny on the wedding stuff....
I have a dress, but I'm shopping for accessories. I'm hoping to get my shoes this weekend, but I'm not sure about veil and hair piece yet. I might try to make my own veil. It doesn't look to be that hard to do.
I'm in the process of writing what I want on the wedding invitations. It's a little hard trying to politely word it for the reception.
The reception will be at 2 or 2:30pm in Blackberry on Saturday September 13. The wedding is just going to be the parents and brothers.
Mom really wants to throw me a wedding shower on July 5th. I'm not to crazy about it, but all my girlfriends keep telling me to just let her do it cause it's a mom thing. I don't really want any wedding presents, but people tell me I should register anyway. I suppose if it's a chance to see you, Bindi, Betsy, and whoever else happens to be in Rapids, it's worth it.
I've got the photographer lined up, and mom's figuring out the catering, cake, etc so I don't have much to do there. |
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So in case anyone hasn't heard, there was an EF5 tornado that tore through Iowa a few weeks back. It completely leveled half the town, and I've heard we haven't had a tornado of that magnitude for at least 30 years. Luckily, everyone I know is safe, but how can you deal with that much destruction? Sure, things can be replaced, but what about water and food? Now those people don't have jobs or much reason for living there. How do you encourage them to rebuild?
For the last few days we've basically been under tornado watches from morning until sunset. We even had a nasty string of storms move through yesterday. When we woke up, it thundered for hours and rained off and on. The afternoon cleared up, and we even had some sunshine around 5pm. We grilled outside to keep the house cool, and then it started thundering again. We sat down to watch a movie, and we seen the trees in the yard bending over in half. Apparently, some places were getting 80mph winds. We were really scared because we put up a 23 foot windmill, and we didn't know if it could handle the winds. Some of the neighbors had trees uproot, but the windmill still seems ok. (At least it's still standing.) After we finished out movie, the tornado sirens went off and we headed to the basement with the scanner. I think I'm going to put together a safety kit for the basement. I'm thinking a sleeping bag, candles, matches & lighter, flashlight with good batteries, first aid kit, water, pre-cooked canned goods with a can opener, and maybe an ax. I feel a little silly, but we've had a lot more tornado warnings with actual sightings in the last month than I remember from the last 4 years. I think this year is just going to be really hard on storms.
In addition, we have a lot of flooding. Jon and I live a little ways from the Cedar River, and I think where we live is relatively higher than our surroundings; however, the community pond we live on is getting very high. Luckily, there is a drain on it so we're better off than others. Our neighbor, for example, has a walkout basement to the pond. He has at least two inches of standing water in front of his basement door because the level of his yard is about the level of the pond shore so the water table is really high for him. He has about three sump pumps trying to keep the water from his house..... |
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What a flutter of wedding activities! The weekend before last, Jon and I came up to Minnesota to get some wedding things taken care of. First, my parents bought a car from my neighbor here in Iowa, and I wanted to drop it off for them. Jon had been working crazy hours for a customer demo on Friday, so he rented a car (cheaper gas mileage than the cars we own for our daily communte) and came up on Friday. Meanwhile, I drove up in my parents' new car Thursday night.
It has been raining in Iowa a lot lately, and pretty much everything is saturated with water. Of course, the new (used) car had simply AWFUL windshield wipers. So on my way out of town, I stopped at an auto parts shop. Let me tell you, you don't find them like this anymore. There was one older gentleman working. He looked up the sizes for my wipers, and picked them up off the shelf for me. Then he offered to install them on my car for me BEFORE I even paid for them. We walked out and put them on the car, and he tested them several times just to make sure they wouldn't fly off while I was driving. Then we went in, and I paid for them. I didn't even have to dispose of my old wipers and the boxes for the new wipers.
Of course, as soon as I put on the new wipers, it quit raining. That's how it always goes, right? Things are slow going, but it's partly sunny, and I always seem to be driving in the sunshine! When I get closer to the Iowa-Minnesota border, I see the stark contrast of the windmills against a nasty looking storm front. The clouds were dark and ominous. Perhaps I'd get to use those wipers after all. As I get closer to the border, the sky gets darker. I called my brother to have him look up the weather report for the area. Thunderstorms. Not even severe thunderstorms. Last thing I need is hail on the new (used) car, but it looks safe to proceed. About three miles before the last Iowa exit, everyone has their headlights on (it's that dark), but it hasn't started raining yet. Then I see it. A white curtain ahead. The proverbial line in the sand. This side is fair weather, the other is nature's wettest rage. As soon as I cross that line, my new wipers on superspeed cannot even keep the windshield clear. I hobble along at 40mph until I get to the exit, and with everyone else, I pull off. At the end of the ramp, I could barely see far enough to safely make the left had turn to thebig red barn rest stop. Once I pull into the parking lot, the rain is falling so hard that there is 2-3 inches of rushing water flowing past the car. I waited 10 minutes for it to subside so I could at least get out of the car and into the rest area, but it doesn't slow. Luckily I'm only wearing flipflops with no socks so I roll up my jeans, and make a mad dash across the parking lot. I make it, but I'm soaked. Finally I make it back to the car, and the rain has let up enough that I feel I can safely proceed.
It rains off and on throughout the remaining 5 hours. I have to slow down again within an hour from Grand Rapids due to excessive deer and thick fog. Again, last thing I need to do is total the car on my way to deliver it.
I pulled into the driveway around 11:30pm. Friday morning, my mom and I headed out to go dress shopping and to look at wedding decorations. First, we went to Jessica's in the Central Square Mall. While the shop had beautiful dresses, I wasn't impressed at all with the prices. The cheapest dress I found that I only KINDA liked was $800. And they don't really protect the dresses at all. They are all stored outside of bags, and many of them are dragging on the floor on their hangers. I can't count how many I accidentally stepped on.
Next we went to Celebrations to look at the center pieces that we are renting for the reception. I'm very excited because they should come together really well. My mom and I have been collecting the other pieces we need for the table decorations, but I don't want to spoil it by saying too much.
After that, we headed to The Wedding Parlour to look at more dresses. I found quite a few dresses I liked, and they seemed to be a lot better spread of prices. Some were really expensive, but my favorite was more middle of the road.
Then we were off to Eveleth to meet the wedding photographer and discuss prices. It took me a long time to find a photographer, and many of them are very expensive. Most of the ones I liked were booked, and the cheap ones were either rude or had pretty mediocre portfolios. Of all the things that are considered keepsakes from the wedding, I believe the photography is the most important.
After meeting with the photographer for an hour, we stopped at Princess Bride in Hibbing. Of all the wedding shops, I'll have to say that I was disappointed with them the most. When we first walked in, there really wasn't anyone to greet us. When the receptionist finished with her phone call, she merely mentioned that we could look through the dresses on the racks. My mom and I did, but it is so difficult to know what a dress will look like hanging in a plastic bag. Finally someone was able to work with us, and things started to go a bit better. I found three dresses that I liked there. One was pretty reasonable, one was middle of the road, and the gorgeous one was over a grand.
By the time we took down the styles and prices of the dresses and headed out to the car, it had begun to sleet and rain ice. Not very fun, but at least the car had new tires and all wheel drive. On our way out of Hibbing, the check engine light came on. I did a quick guage check, but everything read normal. I flipped on the hazards and pulled off to the shoulder. Since I couldn't read the diagnostic code that the car spits out to see what sensor was failing, I did a quick check of the oil and coolant overflow just to make sure the car wouldn't spin a bearing or overheat. Since both things were normal, and there wasn't anything else I could see out of place, I pulled the negative battery cable to reset the error codes in the ECU and eliminate the check engine light. My reasoning is that the car will throw a CEL if any sensor (O2, barometric pressure, etc) that may not be read by a guage on the dash goes bad. Since the car was still appearing to run normally, the possibility of it being critical was pretty slim. I had to travel light from Iowa, so I only had some basic tools in the care but luckily it was enough. (Most of which were given to me by my parents over the last few years of birthdays and Christmas holidays).
Meanwhile, Jon had left Iowa in the rental car around 3:30pm. His trip up was fairly unremarkable, and he made it to my parents' house before 11pm. While we were waiting, my mom and I pulled up all the dresses I liked on the Internet to compare the styles and prices. I even asked Chris which one he liked best and it was the same one both my mom and I liked best!
On Saturday, my mom and I went back to the Wedding Parlour to try on a few dresses again since I had narrowed the selection to those I could afford. Then we left to meet Jon and dad (and apparently Chris) at Zion to meet the minister and our wedding counselor/caterer/planner Peg. My parents left after the initial introductions.
After the meeting at the Church, Jon and I were on our way home in my mom's car that we borrowed, when Jon asked about which dress I liked best. He suggested since we were in Minnesota (and there is no sales tax on clothes) that we should buy it today. I got a little bit of a bargain on it because I bought the one off the floor and took it home. I think it was meant to be because it fit perfectly without any alterations! I'm kind of worried because I tend to loose a little flab over the summer, and I certainly hope I don't gain any! The only thing I will need is the bustle, and I'm going to do it myself.
So now I have to find the accessories and hair. I have a lot of cool ideas for hair, and I don't really care too much about the shoes as long as they are comfortable. I'm starting to work on the address list for the invites. We're trying to keep it to 50 invites, but it's tough because there are so many people that my mom wants to invite. Honeymoon options are very expensive because of gas prices and a weak dollar. |
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I feel like I haven't made an update in a long time....though I don't make very frequent updates at all. So let me see, what is news in my life?
I'm really excited that we got a new entertainment center! It's one of those "new to us" household items that I bought used from a coworker. It's mostly solid oak, and it was built by the guy's brother. I'm very happy with it though! It fits the living room so well!
I repotted three plants the other night. I'm not sure why these plants don't die. I water them once a week, the cats abuse them, and I don't really give them any attention, but they endure. Perhaps I have some of my mom's green thumb. My orchid is even sprouting a new blossom shoot! How exciting! I'm running out of room in my bay window for these plants though. I wanted a few, but I feel like I have too many.
I've been trying to work on my car in the evenings again. I've become rather lazy over the winter, but it's that time of year to get the car ready. I'm not sure how much I'll be driving it though since gas prices are ever increasing. It *can* get over 20mpg, but usually the way I drive it gets more like 16. I can't help it if I enjoy the journey! I'm one of those quickly accelerate, quickly brake people. Before you start, yeah, I know I'm not getting anywhere faster, BUT it's just the feel of the ride that's enjoyable. I'm not a speeder, but I quickly accerelate to the limit. It just feels good. It's hard to explain to someone who wouldn't enjoy cars, but there's something exhilerating about feeling the power of a good car, of knowing what goes into making that car fast.
I've been doing yoga consistently since January. I think I've only missed one day. I still hate it. There is nothing enjoyable about 1 full hour of continous pain dotted with muscle spasm and occaisional near-blackout spells. So why do I keep doing it? It's good for me, I think. I don't really notice any additional flexibility, but the next day my abs, back, arms, and legs feel like they've had a better workout than my strength training regime.
The wedding is coming along. My mom and I had a disagreement about the type of wedding, and the planning was put on hold temporarily. She KEEPS ON INSISTING THAT WE GET MARRIED IN THE ZION CHAPEL. That's not the type of wedding we want at all. I told her we just wanted a simple, outdoor wedding, but she wants me to have it in a town hall. Jon and I only want a simple ceremony and a small reception, but she's going crazy since I'm her only daughter and all. *sigh*
I'm learning to play the ocarina in my spare time. It's a lot of fun, and it's pretty simple. So far I mostly play by ear, but I'm working on getting the fingering down for the chromatics so I can play normal music too. I've even started using Finale Notepad to capture some simple songs. It's a fun new past time!
I've also been doing really good about not drinking a lot of soda pop. I maybe drink soda two or three times a month. I've been trying to drink a lot more water and tea! I even have a few favorite varieties of tea! Currently, I really enjoy Japanese Sechas and rooibus teas. The Japanese Sencha I've been drinking is sooooo good. I really don't know how to describe it, but it has this great flavor that doesn't need any sweetening (sweetening a tea just sounds gross to me). Then I sometimes alternate with a rooibus chai and this other rooibus called 'A Raspberry in Paris.' How cute! The chai is a moody blend of ginger, black peper, etc while the raspberry in paris makes a wonderful iced tea! |
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I picked up the engagement/wedding ring last Monday! If you want to see it, there is a pic on facebook! It's gorgeous!
I also have a much better idea of what I want for a wedding dress. Now I just need to do the important part...you know....like figure out if we're having a formal ceremony and who's invited and all!!! AHHH!!!!
I'm working on my webpages again. I'm currently going to try Visual Web Developer 2008 and see if I get anywhere with that. I'm getting tired of handcoding HTML! I want something fancier!
I bought a new DVD burner the other day too. I'm excited for that to come in the mail. I need to start backing up my photos on DVD in case my super HD ever fails. :(
Otherwise, not much is new. Still trying to go to the gym. Still trying to control my eating. I've successfully swapped coffee out for tea though. I'm addicted to red chai and jasmine tea!
I also have some super cool new contacts! I feel like life is going so well right now! |
| » Picked out my ring |
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So luckily, I received a call from our jeweler saying that she negotiated a really good price for the ring I wanted. So we went downtown today to talk about it, and it was such a good deal that we bought it!!
If you want to know what it looks like, it's kind of like one of these:
http://www.diamondsourceva.com/RingsJewelry/images/ring-marquise-trillions2.jpg
http://www.bodyjewels.net/DEALS%20IMAGES/mar_white_trillion.jpg
Except instead of the trillions, they are replaced with pears! It's soo pretty!
So the next step is to finalize the ceremony, and what we are going to wear. I have an idea of the dress I want. It's a little less traditional, and I haven't found one for sale yet.....that could be a problem, but if all else fails, I may try to make it myself.......!
Feb. 20th, 2008 @ 08:28 pm
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| » Yucky weather |
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Iowa has really been getting nasty this last week. Usually we don't get a ton of snow, but we had freezing rain Sunday morning, and then it dumped 5-8 inches around here. Then it went below 0 with strong winds. As a result, the roads are awful because salt and sand aren't working because it's too cold. The freeway has finally cleared off (mostly) but all the other roads are hard packed and very bumpy.
I had tickets to an opera last night in Waterloo (Tosca). We tried to give the tickets away so we wouldn't have to drive the 50 miles to the theatre, but no one wanted them. The freeway didn't seem too bad, so we drove up there anyway.
There were periods where we could only travel 20mph, and we counted over 40 cars and semis in the ditches. Luckily we made it up and back home. All of the cars in the ditch were probably from the day before.
It's hard to get used to this snow, cold, and blowing snow. I really am starting not to like it!
Oh, but Tosca was really good!
Feb. 19th, 2008 @ 06:57 pm
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| » Wedding plans! |
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I've started working on wedding plans again! We still keep flip-flopping on what we're going to do for a wedding.
So far we are thinking a family only wedding, like Sam's, at an undisclosed location (that's really pretty if the weather is nice)! Then we'll probably have our party/reception in Iowa, though there is a slim chance it might be in Minnesota.
Jon and I went ring shopping today at a couple of stores in town. He found one for a really good price so we put a down-payment on it to put it into layaway. I'm not going to say too much about it except that it's platinum! But don't worry, it's not going to break the bank! It was marked at a white gold price, so even though platinum is twice as expensive, we're getting it for the white gold price!!!
The ring I picked out doesn't have a wedding band, but I may choose to get one made up. Instead it's a three stone setting in white gold (again, we can't really afford platinum, Jon's ring was just lucky). Then before the wedding, I'll get my marquise set into the wedding ring. Unfortunately, the ring with it's own marquise (about the size of mine) was $8500......but, without that center stone (since mine will replace it) the price should come down a lot. But, the ring also has two colorless, near flawless pear shape diamonds......that could make it expensive still!
So, once we finalize where we're getting married, I'll start shopping for a dress. I don't need anything super fancy, and if we get married in the spot we're thinking, I don't think I can wear a dress at all.....but we'll see.
I'm going to take our engagement pics soon too. At least, some indoor ones.
In other news, it looks like I'm going to get a new job soon! I really wanted a change of pace from the software area, so I'm going to get a job in hardware! Yippee!!
Feb. 16th, 2008 @ 07:09 pm
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| » Going on vacation |
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I'll be spending over a week in subtropical Florida! Jon and I bought tickets for the 24 Rolex at Daytona International Speedway. In between races, we'll be hiking around various state parks, and doing at least one canoe trip (hopefully)! After the race weekend, we're hoping to go to St. Augustine and then driving down to the Everglades!
I'm so excited that I've had my camera equipment charged and packed up since Saturday. I'll be bringing most of my stuff, and it all fits into the carry-on requirement for the flight. I'm still a little nervous though...I'm pretty sure they are going to try to make me plane-side check my camera bag. No way! I finally took out additional insurance for my oodles of camera goodies. I wanted to make sure it was covered in case something was stolen in Florida.
Speaking of cameras, I just sold my D70 last night. I'm sorta sad because it was my faithful camera for years. :( Unfortunately, my bamf camera really takes up all my time and I never used the D70 anymore. It was hard letting go of my first DSLR...! But hey, now I have $400 to spend in Florida!
I'm hoping for good weather, though it looks like rain early next week. Forecasts can be unreliable though, so wish us luck!
Jan. 22nd, 2008 @ 03:27 pm
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| » Why I like to stay home on New Year's Eve |
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Nothing bad happened, but it was one of those crazy evenings that was just weird. We decided to go to a bar called Legends in downtown Cedar Rapids to ring in the New Year. There isn't a cover and there are two eighties rock cover bands playing. Jon thought for sure that he had a friend in the band so we went.
We get there and Harvey Headbanger is opening the show. Rock. Pure and simple rock. They've got the hair, guitar solos, weird bassist all covered. The singer (well the one who did most of the singing) even sounded really good.
So the night started kind of slow. We got there early so we could get a table. Jon and Brent were drinking beer and I started with a white russian. The place starts to fill up, and we're having a good time. Around 11pm the bands switched to Skin Candy.
It took them 50 minutes to get their shit together and start playing. Anyway, balloons fall from the ceiling, people cheer, and Skin Candy has awesome guitar riffs. Sweet. Deaf, but sweet.
Then no less than SEVEN police officers bust into the bar! I'm not sure if they were just checking things out or called in, but eventually they left.
Then I had to go to the bathroom. It has been my craziest adventure to the bathroom yet. The bar is now full so I have to navigate my way past the crowds and past the band. Their tower of power speaks almost blow me back to the table. But I succeed and make it to the hallway where the restrooms are.
Like usually, there is a huge line. I get into line and these girls line up behind me. And then these big black women just keep storming in past us. So the two white girls behind me (skinny little things) form a door brigade and are like, "Nuh-huh! There's a line here!" But the line isn't moving.
So I finally get around the corner of the restrooms and there are 5 stalls. The first stall has a girl passed out in it and locked. The next stall has a girl bent over the toilet with here girlfriend guarding it. The third has this scary women who looks like a man dressed in drag holding the door. Which means only toilets 4 and 5 are available for normal use.
There is a short, big woman blocking the bathroom hallway because she is trying to wash her hands. And there are a bunch of women primping in front of the mirrors. Then "Big Mamma" (whom I've named the pushy BIG black woman) pushes in past the door brigade and all the women and bitching and she goes to the big woman blocking the bathroom hallway (their huge bossoms crashing together in some sort of clash of the titans puff up match) and is like, "What the hell, girl! Are you in line? No? Then get the hell otta the way! See these girls behind you?! They gotta go and you're blockin' the way!" So the lady finally pushes to the sink and the rest of us can get by. So I eventually get to a bathroom, do my business, and try to leave, but there is toilet paper all over the floor and it's stuck to my shoes and to the girls shoes on the other side of the stall. WTF!
I rip the toilet paper off my shoes, come out of the stall, and there are like 3 or 4 black guys (bouncers) busting in to the ladies restroom! This one woman is trying to get them to take the passed out girl out of the bathroom, but every other woman is yelling and screaming, "You men betta get outta here!"
I wash my hands and try to push past the bouncers to get the hell out of there. After all the women were yelling and trash talking, the lead bouncer is like, "I don't want none a this, man!" and he turns right around and leaves and is followed by the other bouncers.
I get back to the table, and we're back to listening to sweet guitar riffs at deafening volumes when a bunch of the bouncers start going to the front....where a pushing match/fight breaks out! It's the table next to ours and the crowd is surging and people are fighting. Come to find out, it was some white guy fighting with the bar's cook!
Shortly after, we left.
Jan. 1st, 2008 @ 11:03 am
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