Big girl room

Recently Torsten has been suggesting that we think about moving Annika out of her crib sooner than later. Since she is very good at independent play, he is thinking that if she can get out of bed by herself in the mornings and is in a childproofed room, she might be happy and play on her own for awhile before disturbing us, which would be lovely on the weekends (and this did happen with Callum so it's not totally unreasonable). However, she's only 19 months old--we moved Callum a couple months after he turned two--and up til now she's been perfectly happy in her crib, so I wasn't in any kind of rush to make the switch.

However, that timeline may have just gotten expedited, because in the last couple days, she's started doing this:

Now, lifting her leg onto the crib rail isn't the same as actual climbing out, which requires significant additional strength and flexibility, BUT I recall distinctly that with Callum it was none too long between when he started doing that with his foot and when we first heard the telltale thud of him landing (on his feet, thankfully) on the floor next to his crib one morning. And Annika is much more nimble and willing to take risks than Callum ever was. We could probably troubleshoot our way around this--Jonna suggested, in a genius manner telling of her own personal experience with this issue, turning our crib around so the high side faces out and putting it in a corner so there's only one short side, and attaching very stiff cardboard to said short side--and if she starts climbing out before we have another bed available for her, we may do that--but I think she has a personality that could handle a big girl bed, so I don't see a reason not to do that instead of trying to thwart her will and keep her in her crib for longer.

So! Unexpectedly, I am thinking about her big girl room. Our plan is, and has been for awhile, to move her into the room that is currently Torsten's office and make that her permanent bedroom. It's bigger than the nursery and offers a lot more options for furniture configuration. That also allows me to start with a clean slate when it comes to decor. Nobody will be surprised to hear that purple will figure heavily--but actually, I am not thinking that we will paint the walls purple. I browsed through a TON of photos of purple rooms online and out of all of them, there were only a couple that hit the sweet spot of a lovely muted pale purple that wasn't overwhelming or excessively childish, and frankly, I don't trust our ability to select a paint color that will give that same feeling. Plus if the walls were purple that would limit my ability to go with purple accessories without creating a bordello feel.

So! I'm thinking light gray walls and then lots of purple accessories--curtains/blinds (conveniently, since we haven't ordered our blinds yet, we can switch one of them from the planned gray to a nice purple), artwork, bedding, rug, even some furniture. Basically a similar concept to Callum's room except a lighter gray on the walls and both light and dark purples instead of blue and orange. I have not been able to find an inspiration photo online that exactly sums up what I'm picturing (though I've started a Pinterest board of photos that have useful elements), but this one comes the closest (as far as color scheme only as it is not at ALL the style I'm envisioning for the room--but it nicely shows off the light gray walls complemented by purple accessories):

One big question we are mulling over is whether to get a bunk bed or not. Annika and Callum have their own rooms and we like it that way and plan to keep it so, but it would be nice if they could share a room if they wanted, or if we needed them to if we had lots of guests (which has happened a couple times), and also it would be convenient for sleepovers when they're older. However, Annika has shown herself to be something of a climber, at least compared to Callum (she's not like Liz's Reagan, though, let's be clear). So, the bunk bed would certainly need to be babyproof, or at least not have a ladder for her to climb up. Right now I'm leaning toward getting a cheap-ish IKEA bed (like this one, the same that Callum has) for now and then switching out to a bunk bed in a few years when she is more rational and less of a menace to herself, or at least getting a bunk bed where you can remove the ladder or potentially hold off on installing the top bunk for awhile. I was looking at the bunk bed that it seems half the internet has, but a) it's out of stock in white and it has to be white to match the furniture we already have, and b) I want the bottom to be a full and I'm dubious about the extension kit this one has to make that happen.

Anyway, we aren't fully decided on this, so please weigh in! Do you have bunk beds for your kids? At what age did you get them? Are there any babyproofing tricks and tips for them? Do you think they're a terrible idea? I want to hear all opinions on this matter, please and thank you.

Purple wedding details

Well. Today is October 1, which means that it is exactly one month until the wedding. Since our wedding is on the first day of November, we won't have that moment where it becomes our wedding month until it is our actual wedding day, so for us, October is it. This is our month. Surprisingly, my calmness remains. I am starting to think that maybe all that early organization paid off. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and the stereotypical bridal freakout to begin, but as the wedding gets closer, the less time there is for me to turn into a huge ball of stress. Of course, perhaps things will start going wrong at the last minute and it'll happen. But for now: I am zen.

The wedding being a month away means: Details! I have been working on a lot of them over the past week, with pretty great results. We have only a couple outstanding RSVPs, and we have worked out a pretty solid seating plan. The seating actually seems to be working out fabulously--friend groups fit nicely at tables, and there are groups of people who don't know each other but who we think will get along fabulously. I have been working on a tentative version of the seating plan for months, discussing with Torsten, my mother, and various friends who would get along, painstakingly moving people around, making sure there aren't any rifts I'm unaware of, etc. We aren't going as far as assigning specific places at the tables, but we are assigning tables to try to make sure that everyone has a good group of people to chat with while they eat.

And that means: Escort cards! Table name cards! Menu cards! Programs! And most of those are done. I was torn about how to do the cards, since they wouldn't fit in our printer, and finally decided that I was overthinking it and that there was nothing wrong with just stamping the table names on the cards and leaving it at that. So I bought a set of alphabet stamps and a purple inkpad and set to work. And while I was buying stamps, I found a "You are seated at" stamp that was just PERFECT for the escort cards. So: problem solved.

Also, the table names are set, thanks in part to your input: there are nine tables, and they will be named Purple, Violet, Lavender, Lilac, Plum, Amethyst, Grape, Aubergine, and Indigo. Or, if you'd like to see for yourselves:


I wasn't totally sure that I'd like the stamp thing, but in fact I think it's perfect. I love the slightly imperfect, homemade feel. Our wedding isn't being put together by a professional planner; in fact, we are doing pretty much everything ourselves, and there is nothing wrong with people being able to tell. So, homemade cards it is, warts and all.

For the escort cards, I used the "You are seated at" stamp along with die-cut silver stars to spice things up a bit. Since these photos were taken, each card has been filled out with the appropriate table name and inserted into a matching, business card-sized, dark purple envelope with the guest's name written in purple on an ivory dot. The whole thing (except the star) matches our invitations.




I used the stamps plus a purple pen to make the instructional sign for the guestbook. I plan to use the same approach for the menu cards: 1 per table (it's a buffet so it's just for informational purposes), each stamped with the word "menu" and then with the actual menu handwritten below it. My apologies for the blurry photo.


And I used the stamps to make a "Relief for Tired Feet" sign to go on the flip-flop bucket. If I'd bought the stamps earlier, I'd have used them to make the size tags for the shoes themselves, but I made those with a purple Sharpie before I had the stamps. Also, further evidence of my OCD-ness: I twisted the ribbon holding the size tags as I was tying it so that both loops of the bow had the shiny side of the ribbon facing out. I'm aware that nobody will notice. But isn't that what this blog is for? Proclaiming left and right about ridiculous details that nobody cares about?


The programs are laid out in InDesign and ready to be printed, pending a couple of final ceremony details that need to be added. The purple paper for printing them on has been purchased. The thank-you tags are also ready to be printed and then tied on to the favors with the remaining ribbon. And then the final DIY detail will be creating some sort of purple card box for the gift table.

And then--I'm almost afraid to say it--the details will be done. All that will be left will be logistical details, timelines and final song choices and making sure that everything gets delivered to the right place at the right time. And writing a lot of checks. And then the whole part where we actually get married. Which is pretty much the best part. Although all of the little purple details are a close second. Perhaps all this purple is what's making me so calm.

Shades of purple

OK, so I took that week off from writing about the wedding, which was good for me and all. But now I'm ready to talk about it again! It is, according to The Knot, 66 days away, and that seems to me to be a remarkably short number of days. The invitations and the tuxes were the two big things remaining, and now that we've sent out the invitations and decided against tuxes, we are down to a bunch of little details.

Which is great, right? Except OH MY GOD THE DETAILS. It's ridiculous how many crappy little things there are on my to-do list. And Torsten, who has the more demanding job of the two of us and is also less detail-oriented... well, let's just say that he's good at concrete tasks, but not so good at management of a process like this. So I'm managing it, and assigning tasks as necessary. Which is fine, and I don't mind, but the problem is that Torsten winds up with just two or three tasks at a time, and so he thinks he has all the time in the world to do them.

BUT HE DOESN'T, because there are nine gazillion other things on my list, and the reason I'm giving him tasks is because I need them DONE so I can stop thinking and worrying about them. So we had a little chat the other night (and yes, we're going to keep calling it a "chat" and decidedly NOT an "episode") about how when I ask him to do something wedding-related COULD HE PLEASE JUST DO IT so I can cross it off my list.

To drive the point home, I opened up my to-do list and started reading to him all the little, quibbly things that still need to get done, and before I was halfway done that boy was already hyperventilating with the stress of everything there is left to do and running to his computer to attempt to do all three things I'd asked of him simultaneously. Of course, that was impossible, but it was a sweet thing to try.

Wow. This post makes me feel kind of like I'm running a small army here. Taking a step back, let me say that this process has been much less stressful than I was expecting it to be, and also that Torsten and I have not had any real fights or issues over the wedding at all, and that neither of us has felt resentful or like we are taking on too much of the burden or not getting enough of a say. Things have, for the most part, just worked themselves out, and we have still found plenty of time to do other, non-wedding-related things, and just relax together, despite all the unexpected issues that keep cropping up.

Some things have found resolution: The best man will be at the wedding. We figured out what we want to do for attendant gifts. I emailed the restaurant about the rehearsal dinner (though I have not yet heard back). I ordered the materials to make seating cards. I ordered the candles, their holders, and the mirrors they will sit on that will prevent them from dripping on the rented tablecloths.

I've decided to go with the idea of naming tables after shades of purple, although I haven't picked all the shades yet (it will depend on how many tables there are). Color names that will definitely be included, however, are:

• Purple (duh)
• Violet
• Lavender
• Plum
• Lilac
• Grape
• Amethyst

Other color names that are in contention, but may or may not be used:

• Eggplant
• Mauve
• Orchid
• Wisteria
• Hydrangea
• Aubergine
• Fuschia
• Pansy (or is that just begging for dumb jokes?)

So this is the first place where you come in. What are your thoughts on this second list? Which ones of those scream purple to you more than others? Which ones do not make you think of purple at all? What other purple names would you suggest adding to the list?

The second place where you come in is with the table cards themselves. Once we've finalized what the tables will be called, we're going to have to label them somehow. But how? I mean, I suppose we could just write, or print, the words onto a purple card and set it up on the table somehow, and that may be what we do. But I'd like something that looks a tad bit nicer or more creative than that, but I'm not sure what that would be. Something framed? Something 3D? Something with a picture or a sticker? Maybe there could be a sticker that represents each table, and then the seating cards could have a matching sticker? Is this too much work? Am I overthinking this yet?

I had also been thinking maybe I could use those paint sample cards you get at places like Home Depot? But I don't quite know how I would incorporate them. And would people even get it? And also, don't paint colors usually have really strange names that have very little to do with what color they actually are?

My point here is, I am totally at a loss, and that's why I need your help. What do I do? And if you're like me and you have no idea, at least tell me what you think of the purples in that list up there. Because I am stuck, and I've been staring at that list for so long that the words have lost all meaning.

Wedding Invitations: The Big Reveal

Finally, FINALLY, after months of planning and deliberating and stressing and gluing, I'm ready to show you our wedding invitations. My apologies for the delay, but I wanted to make sure that everyone had received theirs so that no blog-reading invitee got their first glimpse online instead of in person. As far as I know, all the invitations have safely arrived at their destinations, so, here we go.

First, the envelope, addressed and stamped:


Next, what you see when you open the envelope:


A closer look at the lining:


When you pull the invitation out, you see this:


When you open it, you see this:


A closeup of the main part:


A closeup of the pocket and inserts:


Although the main invitation was in both German and English, the inserts were done separately and each person was given only the ones in their appropriate language. Info card not pictured because I would have had to blur out basically everything:


Also, as a side note, the RSVPs have started to come in, and can I just say that even though "Can't wait!" is pre-printed on the card? Every time a "yes" comes in and that circle is checked, I'm all like, "Aww, they can't wait. How sweet!" Yes, really. Apparently I'm easily tricked.

And lastly, all of them piled together, sealed and stamped and ready to be mailed:


By the time they were done, I could no longer tell if they were pretty and interesting and reflective of us, or if they were just boring, amateurish attempts. But looking at these pictures, I think it's the former. At least, that's what I'm going to keep telling myself.

Purple wedding help (again)

I need your help again, and yes, it's still about stuff that is wedding-related and purple. But first, let me rant, because maybe it will make me less bitter.

Originally when we were making our invitations, we were going to print them at my office for free, using black ink. But the printers at my office that we could use for free weren't great quality, and the ink looked a little light on the cardstock. Then we decided we'd print at Torsten's office using the fancy printer there, with the added bonus that it was a color printer, so we could print in purple. But the printer couldn't handle cards that small, so with quality in mind, we decided to pony up the money to have the cards printed professionally. We used a great printer that Torsten has used a million times before for work--great prices, great quality.

Except not so much, this time. The first mistake was that they erroneously assumed that we wanted more cards printed than we did. The second mistake was that when we hadn't given them enough cards for the number they thought we wanted, instead of calling, they just printed them double sided, so that the RSVP card, which has to be sent back to us, was on the back of the information card, which the guests need to keep.

That was frustrating, but they were good about it, and ordered new cards from Paper Source after I sent them the link, and reprinted them immediately. Torsten picked them up the other day, and last night I sat down and started working on sorting and numbering the RSVP cards and putting return address labels on envelopes. Which was when I discovered the third mistake, which is that the ink on the invitations and the English insert cards is too light.

It looks great on the return address labels and on the German insert cards, but it looks like it was done on a printer that was about to run out of toner on the others. It's not terrible, and not worth the time it would take to order more cards and reprint, but it's frustrating because if we had wanted that quality of printing, we could have done it ourselves on a friend's crappy LaserJet.

And then I discovered the fourth mistake, which is that two sheets of the return address labels are totally smeared and completely unusable. This mistake is easily rectified because I discovered an extra pack of label sheets that we can just bring to them to reprint, but it means that Torsten will have to make an extra trip to the printer to drop them off and another to pick them up, which is not convenient at all.

ANYWAY. We sent an email to the printer tonight, detailing problems three and four and saying that since it's too late to reprint, we would please like a partial refund. Because the whole reason we paid for this was to have gorgeous invitations that looked absolutely perfect. Invitations that were printed in such perfect ink that the beautiful font that I spent ages choosing will really pop. And it doesn't. It looks fine, and most of the guests will never notice. But it doesn't look fabulous.

And the whole reason we're making our own invitations is because we wanted them to be fabulous. That's why we--and our friends--bothered spending the time punching holes in the pockets and putting cream-colored paper behind them for a polka-dot effect. That's why we bothered lining the envelopes with vellum even though it adds a tedious extra step to the whole process. Because we want our invitations to be fabulous, down to the very last detail.

Plus, we paid for fabulous. So we will see how they respond.

Actually, writing that all out did make me feel better. So now I can move on to the actual point of this post. I need you all to help me find wedding earrings. I'm looking for something that's purple, formal, and dramatic but not insane. My hair will be up, but loosely so and still curly, and there's the veil, so I don't want anything too over-the-top that will just mean that there's too much going on around my face. I've found a few options on Etsy, but I'm not sure anything is quite right.

1. I found these first:


They're really pretty, but my sister pointed out that they're a bit casual, and I think she might be right. Plus, it's hard to tell how big they are from the photo.

2. Then I found these:


But maybe too small? Or again, too casual? Something seems not quite right.

3. I like these:


But the wires are a little too funky for me, I think, and also maybe the beads wouldn't be formal enough in person?

4. These were even made "with a wedding in mind":


But was it MY wedding the artist had in mind? I just don't know. Which is why I need your help.

Do you like one of the above pairs? If so, which one? Or if not, do you have suggestions of earrings to buy instead? You all found me my shoes, and now I need you to work your magic again!

Inspiration evolution

As the wedding gets closer and more and more details start to fall into place, I've been able to refine my inspiration board to more and more closely resemble our actual wedding. I'm now on Inspiration Board 3.0, and six of the nine images are things we are going to use in our real wedding. The other three very closely resemble what will appear on the day of.

Not one of the photos from the original inspiration board appears in the current one. But that board was very useful in guiding the planning to the point represented in the current board. It still makes me happy whenever I look at it, despite how far things have come since then.

Anyway, the original board (click to enlarge all boards):


And round two, developed a few months later:


And the current board:


Unfortunately, I do not have image credits for all of these, but most of them are from The Knot and Brides.com. The boards themselves (the last two, anyway) were created with a fun Mosaic Maker that can eat up hours of free time--clearly, you should all check it out.

As further evidence of the mosaic maker's addictiveness, I leave you a collage of photos of our honeymoon resort, taken from Trip Advisor. I know you're jealous:


Have a great weekend!

Housekeeping and wedding invitations

I've been meaning to create a page with some of our favorite recipes, since so many of you keep asking. And finally yesterday I got the motivation to do so, in the form of RA and Nic's fun new collaborative cooking project, Whip It Up. I love recipe-sharing, and I think this is a great plan. But I don't want to clog my personal blog with a lot of recipes that the majority of my readers don't care about, and I couldn't figure out how to create a new page on my blog. (Side note: Is that even possible on Blogger?)

So I decided to go the easy route and create a spin-off blog, Du Wax Loolu Recipes. You can find the link right over there in the sidebar, and if you scroll down, you'll see a mini-feed of the most recent entry. Right now there's only one recipe, but hopefully later today there will be two, and it will continue from there. I'll post about new recipes when we think they're worth sharing, and update with some of our staple favorites, and possibly share cooking disasters if any occur.

Speaking of over there in the sidebar, you may notice that I joined Twitter. For a long time I didn't want to, because I thought it was just like Facebook status updates, and I totally didn't get that. So I didn't do it. But I was really bored on Friday, and wanted to read other people's Twitters (tweets?), so I created myself an account, figured out how to customize my page to be purple, and now I'm hooked. If I'm not following you already, please tell me your Twitter name so that I can. And you can follow me!

Okay, now that the housekeeping is out of the way, let's discuss something that's almost as fascinating: wedding stamps! I've actually discussed this before, first when I bought the purple wedding stamp for the save-the-dates and RSVPs, and again when I discovered the next day that postage was going to go up before we sent out the invitations. So I've been patiently waiting for the introduction of the new wedding stamps at the correct rates, and recently they came out, and um, not only are they no longer a pretty purple and pink? But they are instead a less than charming orange and green.

Specifically, the 59-cent stamp I need for the actual invitations is pale orange. Behold:


The design is not nice, the color is even less so, and the idea of a pale orange stamp on the dark purple envelopes makes me want to puke. I was going to be very pissed about the whole thing, but then I discovered this beautiful stamp:


Yes, it's 72 cents, which is 13 cents of wasted postage per invitation, but we are only sending 50 invitations domestically, so that adds up to a total waste of $6.50. To me, it's worth that much to have pretty stamps on my envelopes. I realize that I am probably the only person that cares about or will even notice the stamps, but they still matter to me. And I think I've done a very good job of avoiding being a Bridezilla so far, so I will allow myself this particular little indulgence.

But oh, speaking of invitations: We worked on them for several hours this weekend, with the help of a charming and adorable friend of mine, and they are coming together so well. If we really sat down and applied ourselves, we could have everything done in the next couple of weeks. But this dual language thing is so COMPLICATED. First of all, we have to number the RSVP cards so that we can figure out who they're from when we receive the inevitable response cards without the names filled in. So once the RSVP has been numbered, we have to make sure that it winds up in the envelope addressed to the correct person.

But it doesn't end there. We also have to make sure that the RSVP card and information card are in the correct language (German or English). We have to make sure that only the domestic invitations have return postage on the RSVP envelopes, because RSVPs mailed from abroad can't have American stamps. And then we have to make sure that the external envelope has the correct postage for where it's going (and it will cost a whopping $1.74 to mail each international invitation). It's such a complicated, multi-step process that I want to do the whole thing myself to make sure that wires don't get crossed in the middle. I'm going to go ahead and declare right here that this doesn't make me a control freak.

What might make me a control freak, though, is the fact that I keep going over in my head all the different steps we have to go through to make sure that the correct invitation gets sent to each person. It's not that it's stressing me out, but since it is going to be complicated, it's something that I really want to get done. But we aren't there yet, because the invitations aren't fully assembled yet. So I am trying to practice my new zen attitude. So far, it's only working somewhat.

Lastly, please allow me one small Bridezilla moment: My wedding gown is supposed to arrive in June. June is more than halfway over. WHERE IS MY DRESS? I want it NOW.

Purple pills and pedicures

My endocrinologist called me yesterday afternoon with my results from last week's charming test. Apparently my calcium levels are just a tad higher than normal in both my urine and my blood (did I mention that when I lugged that jug of pee into the doctor's office, I had to have yet another blood test? Three more vials of blood? And the nurse could not find the vein in my left arm but took several minutes and many jabs of the needle to figure that out before finally switching to the right arm? And I forked over another $30 copay for the privilege? Because that's what happened, and it was the perfect end to a fabulous experience).

Anyway, this still means that he thinks that I have hyperparathyroidism but isn't sure. And this is why I want to know why I had to take this test to begin with. That is exactly the same theory he had before the damn test. And when my dad had this condition he didn't have to do the urine test--they went straight from the ultrasound and blood test to the parathyroid scan, which is exactly what I have to have done next. But whatever, I'm not complaining. Well actually, I am, but I'm done now. I think.

Anyway, so this parathyroid scan is a three-step process: at 9 a.m. I'm given an injection in the arm, then undergo a 10-minute scan. At 10 a.m. I have a 30-minute scan. At 11 a.m. I have another 10-minute scan. Oh, and I also need to have a bone density x-ray which apparently only takes a few minutes and so can be fit in between the 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. parathyroid scans. Except that of course the same department doesn't do the scheduling for both so I had to pick an appointment time for the parathyroid scan, then call the bone density people with fingers crossed that they had an appointment open for exactly 9:30 on that particular day. Of course, they closed for the day at 3 p.m. and I called at 3:30. So hopefully they'll call me back today and tell me that the appointment time works.

Ugh. I can just see this turning into a ridiculous wild goose chase where I make an appointment with one place, then call the other place only to find out that they don't have that same time available, and so on until I've already used up more time scheduling appointments than it would take to just go to the damn hospital on a different day for each test.

Anyway, the endocrinologist once again assured me that if I do need this surgery, it's not urgent because it is basically a surgery to prevent bone density loss later in life. So it's totally fine for me to wait until after our wedding (and probably just until after the holidays in general) to do it, as a few months will not make the slightest bit of difference. So that made me feel better.

Of course then he shot the feeling better to hell by telling me that the blood test revealed that my thyroid hormone levels are better but still not perfect, so he needs to up my dosage again, which means I need to go back to his office again next month for another blood test to see if the new dose is the magic one or if he has to adjust it yet again. I thought there might be a silver lining because each different dosage of Synthroid is a different color--so far I've had white and green pills, and I was hoping that this new dose would be one of the two available purples, but tragically, it's yellow. Damn!

So to make myself feel better about all this, I went and got a pedicure after work. A purple one, natch.


And you know what? It totally worked.

The Flower Saga, Part... I've Lost Count

So, I realize that most of you probably don't read my blog just to hear about my adventures in floral delivery. But something happened yesterday that I have to talk about.

Note: for those of you who may have missed the first parts of this saga, the story is as follows: Torsten tried to get me flowers for Valentine's Day and it didn't work out. Then he tried to send me makeup flowers and it still didn't work out. Then 1-800-Flowers found my blog and sent me free flowers as an apology. End of story.

Until yesterday. Because yesterday, this arrived. And in case you're too lazy to click on that link, let me show you a picture:


See how pretty? Yes? You do? So do I. Except that the actual flowers sitting next to me on my desk are about 23984387 times prettier than they look in that picture. And the arrangement is gigantic. Seriously, it's massive.

At first I thought they might have been in response to the comment I made in the last post about this, when I said I wondered why they had chosen to send the medium bouquet instead of the large. But then I thought, actually not, because these new flowers weren't purple, and I also mentioned in the last post that the other flowers weren't purple. (And no, 1-800-Flowers, if you are reading this, this is NOT a plug for you to send me a free purple bouquet!) So then I decided that maybe there was some sort of glitch, like two different people had been assigned the task of sending the apology flowers and hadn't coordinated with each other properly.

But then I read the note that accompanied the flowers. In it, the president of the company said that they "wanted to apologize again in a big way." And I'm pretty sure that wording was intentional. And then I emailed the guy who started this whole thing to thank him, and when he wrote back, he said, "Our pleasure--we took your point to heart."

So from that I've concluded that these new flowers were in fact a response to my point about the last bouquet being the medium instead of the large. And now I feel a bit picky and princessy. But on the other hand, I have another gorgeous bouquet of flowers on my desk. This time they had the sense to remove the card that said the name and size of the bouquet, so I can't know for sure that it's the large. But it is really enormous. And absolutely beautiful. So I'll take it.

Anyway, this (I assume) concludes the ongoing saga of my Valentine's Day flowers. And a good thing, too--I was thisclose to having to create a "flowers" category on my blog.

Humble pie

So, remember how Torsten sent me flowers on Valentine's Day and it didn't go so well? And how he tried to send make-up flowers a couple weeks later and it still didn't go so well? (Ha ha, like anyone could NOT remember that, given the fit I pitched.)

Well, apparently the thing to do if you're upset about something that happened with a company? Is to write a ranty blog post (or two) about it. Because 1-800-Flowers? Found my bitter posts about the flowers via Google Alerts. And sent me an apologetic email saying they'd like to send me flowers to make up for it if I would just give them my address. I was suspicious because, you know, someone on my blog asking for my address, etc. So I called 1-800-Flowers to verify that the person who sent me the email, a vice president of the company, was who he said he was. And I wound up on the phone with him. And we had a long chat. And he was a really nice guy. So I gave him my work address.

And yesterday? A gorgeous, fragrant bouquet of flowers arrived. In the morning. In a vase. From an actual florist. These flowers, to be exact (in medium--and can I just say that I find that weird? Why wouldn't they send the large one? I mean these are flowers from the president of a large company. And it's not like she even had to pay for them herself). The one thing is, they aren't purple. (Although actually, there are a couple of little purple flowers in the mix.) But I think that's because they only read the second post, which did not specifically mention purple. And despite not being purple, they are beautiful. And they smell really, really good.

So I'll stop looking a gift horse in the mouth now. I'm inclined to be a bit forgiving. That is some serious attention to customer satisfaction, there. And also, it was the president of the company who discovered my blog post. I like a hands-on CEO, I have to say.

So here's my revised opinion of 1-800-Flowers. They have two ways of doing things: florist and shipping. But they tell you with each bouquet which it will be. So if you order flowers from them, look for this image:


And STAY AWAY from this one:


I assume they sent me these flowers in part so that I'd write a positive post about them. But what can I say? It worked. Maybe it's the heady fumes of the flowers, but it feels like spring in my office, and I'm very happy about that.

Unpurple

So, even though I was so excited when I posted on Wednesday, the day wound up going downhill in the afternoon. There were a lot of factors, but they were not improved by me dropping a purple vase that Torsten gave me and watching it shatter on the floor. Nor were they improved by the fact that when the save-the-dates arrived, I discovered that they did not, in fact, meet my standards for purple.

I realize this is my own fault for not ordering a sample ahead of time, but it looked so pretty on the site. And it was called "amethyst." I have an amethyst ring that Torsten gave me, and it absolutely does meet my definition of purple. I fell prey to marketing and to the cruel inaccuracies of my LCD screen.

However, the STDs are still very nice--good quality paper, pretty font, nice design. And I am probably the only person other than my sister who will look at them and think, "That isn't purple." Torsten thinks it's purple. I think it's an eggplanty pink. Certainly not the gorgeous purple I was anticipating.

But once bitten, twice shy. The second I saw the color of the STDs, I went straight onto the website where we plan to order our actual invitations (not the same vendor) and ordered a sample. I will not make the same mistake twice. And I care a lot more about the invitations than I do about the STDs. Especially because the STDs have only a small amount of (what was supposed to be) purple, whereas the invitations are entirely purple. Oh, yes they are.

So, we'll look at this as a learning experience. And not a reason to get all upset. Oh, and for those people who asked to see the STD? Here is the sample. The real one has our full names and actual URL, but otherwise the wording is the same.

And the other reason why Wednesday went downhill? Well, it might have had something to do with almost getting killed during our volleyball game. We were in a gym that had these big sheet things hanging from the ceiling. It was the middle of our last game of the set, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed movement toward the ceiling. I glanced up to see one of the sheets billowing around, detached from one of the metal rods that had been holding it in place.

And then I saw the metal rod itself start to fall from the very high ceiling. It almost happened in slow motion, it was so surreal. It was surrounded by huge amounts of dust that had been trapped in the sheet--such big pieces that it looked like feathers. It almost seemed like the rod was floating as it made its way to the floor. Until it slammed onto the court, about five feet from where I was standing and even closer to one of my teammates, with a very loud crash.

It was a very heavy rod, about three feet long and over an inch in diameter, made out of very thick metal. Point being that if it had landed on one of us? It literally could have killed us. Which is not exactly the type of thrill I'm looking for when I play volleyball.

The rest of the week has not been much of an improvement, I have to say. It sleeted all last night and we woke up to ice and grossness everywhere--and yet work was not canceled, and I'm extremely grumpy about that. Almost nobody is in the office, though, and while the peace is nice, the dead silence is not exactly a motivating factor.

But what IS a motivating factor is that I'm leaving a bit early today for our drive down to North Carolina. And it's supposed to be 65 degrees and sunny there tomorrow. And also? Tomorrow? Is the big Dress Day. And I am still very excited about that. Don't worry, I packed my camera. There will be a full report on Monday, I'm sure. Until then, have a great weekend!

Top 24 initial impressions

Okay, it's time for this year's reprise of last year's American Idol Contestants I Like post. First of all, let me just lodge an official complaint that this year's photo background is blue, which is a HUGE step down from last year's gorgeous purple background. This needs to be rectified. Pronto.

Now, let's start with the guys, since they went first. And can I just say as a general complaint to approximately nine out of the twelve of them? Come on, guys, what is with the camera fucking? Seriously. SERIOUSLY. Please, stop it. And especially stop it with the accompanying "aw, shucks"/"I am outside your window with binoculars RIGHT NOW" smiles. Kthanxbai.


David Archuleta is just cute. I thought his voice sounded a little weird during the song, and I've come to the conclusion that it's because he could hardly breathe from nerves. But it was so sweet how he was all breathless afterward. I think he'll be around for awhile.


Danny Noriega is very, very androgynous, but at least his pants were tight enough to make it clear that he is actually male. He's an interesting, fun performer, but his singing wasn't nearly as good last night as it has been earlier. The only reason he's really on my list is that he didn't look directly into the camera once during his performance, and that was SUCH a refreshing change.


Jason Castro was so cute and nervous and excited during the judge reactions. And I thought he was great. And I was so impressed with the guitar and the singing and the way that he did the pacing. He made it his own, as the judges are so fond of talking about. And he's so sweet and overwhelmed, like Melinda last year except that he has more than two total facial expressions.


Michael Johns was good, but I thought his rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody during Hollywood Week was better. Still, he's cute and a good singer and very charismatic. Though I didn't like the scarf. And why, why, WHY does he have to be a camera fucker? I mean, come on. Stop STARING like that. At least there were no awkward sideways smiles like some of the other guys.

Now, the girls. Let me note that I thought there were a lot more good, interesting girls than there were guys. So I was a bit more selective with the girls than I was with the guys. Therefore, honorable mentions here go to Joanne Borgello, Alaina Whitaker, and Syesha Mercado. That said, here are my personal favourites.


One of the guys last night, I think the faux punk rock one, sang the same song as Brooke White, but hers was much, much better. I don't want to like her because I don't usually go for that innocent good-girl thing, but I just think her voice is great and interesting. And I like how relaxed she is on stage. Also, thank god she appears to be growing out those heinous bangs.


Alexandréa Lushington is totally gorgeous (though I was NOT a fan of that semi-pigtailed look she had going on last night), and her voice is just really effing great, and she has all this personality. I heart her. This was the first time this week that I completely disagreed with Simon's assessment.


Asia'h Epperson has a really cool voice. I like that sort of hoarse aspect she's got going on. I heard that in her audition and thought it was the whole overcome with emotion due to the recent death of her father thing, but apparently not. She has personality too, although I didn't like that weird dance thing she did when Simon said she was his favourite of the night.


Ramiele Malubay is just really fucking good. That's all there really is to say. Oh, and also I hate her hair.


I did not like the song choice with Carly Smithson tonight, at all. I thought it was boring and the performance wasn't that good. She clearly chose it just to showcase her voice. And her voice is great. But the song sucked. However, I just discovered that she used to be Carly Hennessey before she got married, and now I've finally figured out the story behind a song that someone put on a mix CD for me awhile back, "I'm Gonna Blow Your Mind." I used to really like that song and now I'm totally startled at the connection. I hope she comes back next week with an interesting performance and a less sack-like outfit.

What did you AI lovers out there think?

Wedding week!

So is it wrong that I am inordinately excited about the fact that UPS claims to be delivering our save-the-dates today? The tracking system says that it is "out for delivery" right now. At this very moment! I am actually thrilled about going home, picking up my purple pen, and addressing sixty envelopes. I mean, I'm sure that excitement will be long gone by the third envelope, but I'm going to hang on to it for as long as possible. Because finally, something tangible for the wedding! Of course, this means Torsten needs to get on translating our wedding website into German, because once the save-the-dates go out, people will actually have the URL of the site. (Sweetie, I know you're reading this. Please, take note.)

And THEN, tomorrow, I am going to meet with our day-of coordinator about table linens. And I know that it's just table linens but also it's about purple! And details! And things actually happening! Because suddenly it's late February and our wedding is only eight months away! And that does not feel far at all. And I am so excited.

AND THEN. On Friday, we are driving down to North Carolina, so that on Saturday, my mother and sister and I can go to the big bridal superstore near my parents' house to peruse the selection of well over 1,000 different dresses, including more than 150 dresses available in plus sizes. So either my sister or I should be able to fit into pretty much all of them to try on. And I KNOW the store is good because my sister got her wedding dress there, so I have been there before and seen that they really do have the most unbelievably wide collection of dresses and sizes that one could possibly imagine.

And not to get all insane bride here, but oh my god I am so so excited and I have been looking forward to this for ages and if I don't find a dress here that I like better than my current front-runner then I will KNOW that that is the one. And if I DO find a dress that I like better then I will also know that THAT is the one. A whole day! Surrounded by wedding dresses! In a low-stress atmosphere without pushy salespeople! And so many options!

I am a tad bit excited, here, in case you couldn't tell from all the exclamation points. And the fact that I'm excited is making me more excited, because this is the first time that I have felt Really! Excited! about the dress shopping. It's like, suddenly I've realized that our wedding is going to happen, and it's going to be soon, and it's going to be FUN.

All you do is blink.

This four-day weekend seriously flew by faster than any other. The problem was that Jessie's visit was just way, way too short. But also way, way amazingly fun. We had a tragic goodbye this morning but it definitely will NOT be two years until we see each other again, so that is the good news. And also, we had a fabulous time while she was here, so that is the other good news.

We spent yesterday at the biggest mall in the DC area, checking out all the department stores in hopes of finding a purple bridesmaid dress for her. And you know what is frustrating? Even though I keep hearing all sorts of things about how purple is supposedly in this season? It was almost nowhere to be found. We dug a few things off the clearance rack at Macy's, but nothing was right, and all the other stores were a complete bust. Almost.

At one point we were so desperate that we went into a Jessica McClintock store and actually had her try on what may have been the most hideous purple dress in existence. It was so purple that it was nearly neon, and it had a really inappropriately low-cut halter neckline, and the skirt was pleated, but like really intensely pleated, like an accordion, seriously. And also the skirt didn't even come down to the knees.

But we were so determined to find a dress that she tried it on anyway, and oh my god, I'm so glad she did because the laughter that it induced was absolutely amazing. Let me note now that I actually have her permission to post the following picture, with the request that you all ignore the highly visible bra:


We did actually wind up finding a really nice, inexpensive dress in gold, but the store said that it came in purple too, but they didn't have the catalog yet, so let's keep our fingers crossed that that works out, because wow, even though I'm a girl and they're supposed to be good at shopping? By the end of the day, I just could not take it anymore. It was just so much. And Jessie felt the same way. We may have spent a good twenty minutes collapsed in this awesome armchairs at Bloomingdale's that were obviously placed there for men to sit in while their wives/girlfriends/whatever keep shopping. But maybe that's why Jessie and I get along so well.

She is great. The visit was great. I know that as I write this she is still in our apartment, but I miss her already.

All wrong

I didn't think I cared very much about Valentine's Day, but apparently I do, because yesterday sucked. I was positive Torsten was going to send me flowers. The year before, our first Valentine's Day together, he didn't get me flowers because he thought I was the type of girl who didn't care about Valentine's flowers, and I was very upset about that, and this year I told him several times that I would like flowers, because the type of girl that I am not is the type who expects her significant other to read her mind.

So, I told him that I would like flowers on Valentine's Day, and I would like them sent to the office so that I could pick them up from the receptionist and set them on my desk and admire them all day and have other people admire them all day. And I told him not to waste his money on red roses because I like purple flowers much better anyway.

And I was sure he would get me flowers. I cleared off a space on my desk and I waited and waited for the flowers, and no flowers came, and at around three o'clock I finally caved in and IMed him and asked why there were no flowers, and then he got very upset because it turned out he had gotten me flowers but they hadn't arrived yet. And he had paid extra to have them delivered on Valentine's Day, and then they didn't show up until after four.

And when they did show up, they were in a cardboard box, because he didn't get them from a florist, he got them from 1-800-flowers, which is a stupid crappy website that ships you your stupid flowers FedEx, which is why they were so late because FedEx isn't a florist and they have no awareness of timing, like the fact that Valentine's Day flowers that show up right before you leave work DON'T COUNT.

And I didn't even bother opening the box because given the upcoming four day weekend I figured it would be better to leave them in the box so they wouldn't die, and bring them home and enjoy them there. So I hauled the box from work to dinner, and dinner was fine, it was good even. And I thought I was over the fact that I was expectantly waiting for flowers all day and feeling like an idiot for having cleared a space for them and feeling wildly, irrationally unloved about it.

And then we got home and opened the flower box, and it was just a crappy bouquet of pink tulips in plastic wrap. It looked like something that you could buy at the grocery store for $10, except that he paid way more than $10 for it, and also they were pink and not purple, and also they looked like they were about to die and a bunch of them were crushed, and what stupid company thinks it's a good idea to ship flowers in a cardboard box? And also the company guaranteed overnight delivery for freshness, but according to FedEx tracking, the flowers actually shipped on Tuesday morning and didn't arrive until Thursday afternoon, so that is almost three days in transit, which might explain why they were crushed and half-dead.

Torsten was very upset too, and he showed me the picture of how they were supposed to look online, and he was right that they were much prettier online, but even still, they were pink, ugly pink and I don't like pink, I like purple. In fact I fairly strongly dislike pink. And I guess he was swayed by the fact that the website said something about how they were cultivated in Holland, which is a bunch of useless marketing crap anyway and who cares where they were grown and besides, local flowers are the best because they are fresh and nice, not that it matters in February, but at least they could have come from a god damn florist who would have arranged them in a vase and delivered them in a timely manner.

And at first I was okay about the whole thing, because geez, it's just a stupid manufactured holiday and my fiance tried, he really tried to send me pretty purple flowers and even though it didn't work out quite right, I still have an amazing and loving fiance and it's just some stupid pink tulips and regardless he's going to call and demand his money back given that the flowers were delivered really late and half dead. So it wasn't a waste of money.

And then we were sitting on the couch and he moved his arm suddenly as I was moving too and he inadvertently whacked me in the side of the head, and it hurt but not THAT much, and yet I totally burst into tears and started completely freaking out. And I knew, I KNEW that I was being irrational, I could TELL that it was just stupid hormones combined with the stress of disappointedly waiting for flowers all day, but probably mostly the hormones, but it doesn't matter if it's hormones making you cry because it still feels shitty, even if you know the reason.

And Torsten tried to make me feel better, he tried to touch me and hold me and even though logically in my head I wanted him to touch me, whenever he actually did touch me I shrank away, I wasn't ready to be touched because I was just so frustrated, and there was nothing that could be done because all I wanted was for once to get some god damn Valentine's flowers that were pretty and showed up on time, and is that really too much to ask? And also the next two years Valentine's Day will be on a weekend so the next opportunity for this issue to be rectified is in 2011, and that feels very far away right now.

But it was just so weird, I was there being insane, being irrational, and knowing it and yet I couldn't stop it, I was crying and curled up in a ball and Torsten was being so supportive and apologizing and I kept telling him it wasn't his fault and I meant it, because it really wasn't, because god damn it he tried to send me purple flowers on Valentine's Day and what more could he have done? Except not order from a stupid website that ships flowers FedEx from a warehouse instead of working with local florists like Teleflora does, and now he knows, and 1-800-flowers is officially on our shit list and will never be used again.

But there was just nothing he could do, nothing that was right because I was frustrated by the outcome of a situation that could not be reversed and so anything that he did was going to be wrong, and so he just sat there impotently while I freaked out, and of course that was the wrong thing to do too, and oh, the poor boy. It just really should not be that much to ask to have a simple Valentine's Day that goes smoothly and involves pretty flowers that arrive in the morning.

And yeah, I feel spoiled because oh tragedy, my fabulous fiance spent too much money sending me flowers he thought I would love for a holiday that doesn't matter, and really, if I'm looking for problems maybe I should try getting some real ones? But damn it it DID feel like a real problem and still, now, the next day when things are supposed to feel sunny and bright again, I look over at those god damn crumpled pink tulips and I kind of want to throw them on the floor.

Yay purple wedding!

Last week, we finally got the German guest list from Torsten's parents, which means that our guest list is more or less finalized. I don't know what the response rate will be, but I think we still have a hope of keeping our wedding to 75 guests. Our dream of 50 seems unlikely, but on the other hand, if we were to have only 50 guests, it would mean that people who really matter to us weren't there. So I'll be happy with 75. Although who knows what the final number will be.

Anyway, because we have something close to a final number, I was able to order the save-the-dates. I placed the order on Wednesday night, and they are scheduled to arrive sometime next week. I am so excited. We paid the money to have our return address pre-printed on the envelopes, but we plan to address them by hand. By which I mean, I plan to address them by hand, because Torsten's handwriting sucks.

I read all this stuff about calligraphers and whatnot, and while I like calligraphy as much as the next person? I don't see a need to have it, especially given how much it costs. One of my favourite things about receiving letters from friends is the hand-addressed envelope that just screams of "personal" the second you see it in your mailbox, before you even know who it's from. I want our invitations to feel like that. And I have pretty good handwriting. And we're only sending about 60 actual cards.

So, I will be hand-addressing our save-the-dates, and also our invitations. And yes, I will be doing so with a purple pen. Are you really surprised?

And also, I went ahead and ordered the stamps to send the save-the-dates and also to put on the return envelopes for the RSVPs. I only wish I already knew whether the invitations themselves would require extra postage or not. I never knew that those love stamps you always see? Those are designed for weddings. The post office always has a wedding stamp available in 1- and 2-ounce rates. And the current 1-ounce wedding stamp, the one that I ordered? It's purple!

Speaking of our wedding and purple (and the two DO go hand-in-hand), my successful meeting with the florist and our extensive discussion of the decor made me start thinking about the details of our wedding. And honestly? That's almost all that's left. I had a great conversation with a potential officiant on the phone, and he's out of town for a few weeks, but we have a meeting set up with him in early March, and if he's in great in person as he was on the phone, then we're set. And if not, I have several other leads.

The ceremony and reception venue, the caterer, the photographer, the DJ (who will also be doing the ceremony music), and the florist have all been arranged. I'm going to NC to look for a dress in a couple of weeks. As I mentioned, the guest list is done and the save-the-dates have been ordered. The invitations have been chosen, though we don't need to order those yet. The officiant is almost sorted out. The menu has been selected. Blocks of rooms have been booked at two different hotels.

Those are all the big things. The only big thing we haven't done yet is the cake, and that's next on my list. Makeup artist, transportation, tux rentals, and bridesmaid dresses must still be selected--but those things can be dealt with slowly, over time, and don't need to be handled this far out. And from there, it's all about the details. Attendant gifts, guest favors, linen colors, place cards. The fun little stuff that most people probably won't even notice--stuff that will not make or break the party.

I am excited about that stuff. I just arranged a meeting with the "complimentary" day-of coordinator provided by our caterer. We'll be getting together next week at the reception site and reviewing table linen options and other such thrilling details. I haven't asked her specifically about purple, but she mentioned in an email that solid linens in any color are included in our contract. So it seems--knock on wood--that a purple table (similar to the one on my wedding inspiration board) may well be in the cards for us.

So, in view of this upcoming table linen summit, I thought I'd double check with Torsten about my purple tablecloth plan, in case he found the idea upsetting. And his response? "I would be upset if there weren't purple tablecloths!"

And that, right there, is why we are the perfect match.

Wednesday Five

It's early, but I'm already feeling jumbled today, which means that obviously it's about time for a list. Lists are the best way to sort through jumbles, are they not? So, how about a Wednesday Five for a brief change of pace?

• I know that my post yesterday made it sound like my year abroad in France was wretched, at least from a social perspective. And while it's true that I struggled a lot with making friends while I was there, I ended up extremely close with my host family. It's been six years since I lived there and I'm still in touch with them regularly. My host brother was just here to visit in October and the whole family is planning to come over for the wedding. They helped make my experience great. Although they were also crazy and I had some adjustment issues when I first lived with them, as well. But that's a story for a whole separate post.
  
• Torsten and I watched the season debut of American Idol last night. Well, I should say that I watched it and Torsten watched part of it, until he couldn't take it anymore. I don't like the mean ones. I don't like watching the bad singers. I know they get great ratings on those shows but I don't understand why. I like to see the good singers and try to guess which ones of them are going to get far. And just a couple of righteous, country girls with good voices does not fill that void for me. At all.
• We have found a florist for our wedding. I met with her on Monday and she was so great and her prices so reasonable that I'm going to cancel the meeting I had set up with a second florist. I know it couldn't hurt to look, but that meeting with the first florist? It was exhausting. She literally walked me through every step of the ceremony and reception, and made an extensive list of acceptable flowers. She nailed down details that I hadn't even thought of. And we have a really cool and affordable concept for the centerpieces, and she is going to make me an amazing purple bouquet. The best part is that she totally got my love of purple, and my insistence on the need for it to be pure and not at all pink or blue. She said that she has never met somebody with such a narrow definition of purple before, but I think she's up for the task. And I couldn't believe how low her price was. Including delivery!
• Yesterday was a day of much praise for me at work, from a variety of different sources. The best, for me at least, was that the client was extremely pleased with the first draft of the website that I wrote for them, which was the huge project that was killing me back in December. They're talking about trying to submit it for some web awards once the site goes live. So that is a huge relief and some serious validation.
  
• It's Wednesday, and I have Friday off this week. So that means my week is halfway over! And I am extremely happy about that.

All about weddings

Before I talk about other wedding details, which of course I will, I have to talk about what happened to us on Friday. Because it's possible that it's one of the best and simultaneously most horrifying things that has ever happened to me.

Okay. Torsten and I met up with a potential wedding officiant for lunch on Friday. The man was very old--I don't know exactly how old, but he told us he'd been married for 64 years, so probably somewhere around 90, give or take a few years. Over email, he'd seemed great, and we could tell from the conversation that we had similar values.

However, he was pretty much deaf, even with his hearing aid, which meant that we had to shout to get him to hear us. Already I was imagining our wedding ceremony: "Do you take this man to be your husband?" "I do." "What?" "I DO." "What?" "I DO, damn it!"

Anyway. So, there was the fact that he couldn't really hear. And generally we just both felt a little awkward around him, and the conversation felt forced, which isn't really how I want to feel around my wedding officiant. But still, like I said, we seemed to share values, and he seemed like a nice enough guy, so I was still kind of on the fence about him.

And then he asked what our hobbies were. I went first and told him a couple things, and then he turned to Torsten and said, "So, Torsten, what are your hobbies? Aside from making love to Jess."

I just sat there thinking, OH NO. This 90-year-old man did NOT just say that to us. Seriously, I thought that I must have heard him wrong. But then, after lunch was over, Torsten grabbed me and said, "DID YOU HEAR THAT?"

Yes, yes I did. And that is why our search for a wedding officiant has not yet come to an end.

Anyway, you all gave such great advice about the save the dates on Friday that you know what? I ended up deciding not to go with any of them. This is in part due to what you all said (changing my mind about that last one with your comments about the pie chart) and in part due to the fact that Torsten, as it turns out, does not like brown. Who knew?

Anyway, I went back to the site with all the stuff that you guys had talked about in mind, and found another STD that came in purple that I overlooked the first time (because the website trickily named the purple "amethyst"). It's great. It has dots, which I love. It has purple, which I love. It's simple, which we both love. It isn't brown, which Torsten loves. And it even has a line for the address of our wedding website. I created that website over the weekend, and put ten pictures of us on it, so that, for me, alleviates the need to have a photo of us on the STD itself.

Here it is:


Now, I'm sure about this one, and so is Torsten. But still--what do you think of it? The actual version will have our last names too, and also obviously the real address of the wedding website, which I so want to show you guys except that that's a little too un-anonymous, even for me. But suffice it to say that the website is purple, and very basic--it just has some photos of us (nearly all of which you've seen), some info about the venue, and then the info about hotels and directions and the registry and all that.

There were options to add all sorts of other cutesy sections, like our story and descriptions of the people in the wedding party and downloads, but we decided to keep it bare-bones and just plain informative. So it's pretty much done, except that I need Torsten to translate the whole thing into German.

But hey--did you notice that I said that it has info about the registry? Because we registered yesterday! We went to Macy's and registered in person, using one of those fun little scanners. Then we went home and read reviews of all the stuff we'd registered for and took off half of it and created a second registry on Amazon with better, less expensive versions of it. We aren't done with either registry, but the biggest hurdle, of getting them started and figuring out what basic stuff we want, is done. And it's such a relief, especially after my angst the first time I tried to register.

Okay! Sorry for all the wedding talk. I swear I won't post about wedding stuff again for awhile. Or at least a couple of days.