Ok, so my personal goal for the wedding is to have Michelle Obama arms. I have enough on my plate to stress/obsess/worry about, and I refuse to add weight loss to to the list. I have always struggled with my weight, but am I actually pretty happy with how I look. I was SO physcially active when I was in Israel and Europe, and I really want to get back to that. At home, I am very much a couch potato, and could DEFINITELY stand to move around more. I'm not sure that completely overhauling J and I's lifestyles is really what we want to do, but incorporate some extra exercise and better food habbits is certainly something that I want to do.
I think that it's important to start a marriage on healthy terms. Both J and I could easily sit on the couch all day, eat take-out and never move except to reach for the remote or grab another drink. I think that we would both end up fat and miserable ... and that now is the time to turn the tide against that. Are J and I EVER going to train for a marathon for fun? Absolutely not, but I would like to get into shape so that when we have kids we have the energy to chase them around the house and then help them practice for whatever sport they choose.
I'm currently a size 18. I would like to be a size 10 for the wedding :) I don't care about the pounds, as long as I look and feel good. Oh, and have Michelle Obama arms :)
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
One year to go!!!
Wow, in EXACTLY 365 days I will be getting married. I will be a Mrs.!!! The 4 1/2 months since I got engaged in Paris over Valentine's Day have FLOWN by. We have already booked the caterer, photographer and DJ which is all VERY exciting!! The garden looks AMAZING and I can't wait to see what it looks like next spring when everything has had a full year to grow and bloom!!!
Mom is currently focused on brainstorming for the centerpeices. We both agree that with so much natural floral beauty surrounding us we don't really want to have cut flowers on the table (for the bouquets and boutineires and such, of course!!). We're thinking about having potted herbs and flowers on the tables or something along those lines!! Personally, I'm getting excited about dress shopping :) My personal favorite designer is Alfred Angelo, and they JUST opened a shop in Springfield which I am VERY excited about!!! I'm thinking that my MOH's and I will swing by on Sunday to check things out and see what all this dress shopping is all about!!
I'm still suffering some "loss of identity" anxiety with regards to changing my name!! I feel very strongly about keeping my middle and last name, but at the same time I want to have the same last name as my husband and future children, so I feel like I'm going to end up having four names :) I already suffer loss of identity from moving to a different county!!!!! Not that I don't LOVE the new house (I absolutely ADORE it), but it's in a different county which has caused some angst.
J and I are both enjoying slowly but surely merging our lives together. While, of course, I'm having a blast planning the wedding and am SO looking forward to it and the honeymoon, I'm really just excited about spending the rest of my life with such a wonderful man. Does he drive me CRAZY sometimes? Of course, and I'm sure that I drive him bonkers from time to time as well, but we are learning to work through those hairy moments and truly be partners for life. It's so nice to always have someone to talk to about all the minute details of life ... someone to BUILD with those details to a great life for all time. I think that so many marriages fail because one or another person in it remain too focus on the "sparkle." Dating can be so much fun and so exciting, and it's easy to get pulled into the "well, it's the next step" argument for getting engaged ... and then you have this AWESOME party to plan and are getting presents all the time ... I can see how couples could be focused on the wrong thing and then they get back from the honeymoon and suddenly, it's just not exciting anymore. It's all TV and take out!
Personally, I like TV and take-out and have always prefered staying in and snggling up with a good movie to going to glamorous parties or bar hopping ... so and I am genuinely excited about the PARTNERSHIP. J and I are a great team. Do we always get everything right? No, we're human, but we can work through our problems and end up closer than ever at the end of it.
I think that the biggest challenge that I am facing as I plan this wedding is the potential to be disappointed. It's hard because I'm the first of my friends to get engaged and plan a wedding ... so people don't actually GET what I'm going through ... J and I pride ourselves in giving ALL we've got to our friends. We will absolutely drop everything for a friend in need, and it definitely hurts our feelings when friends and family don't do the same the one time J and I ask for it. My feelings have definitely been hurt by LOTS of people in the wedding party so far because it just doesn't seem like people care. I know, I will ALWAYS care WAY more about centerpieces and foods and dresses than anyone else because it's MY wedding and it's MY vision ... but it really does sting when people just seem to blow off wedding stuff ... particularly the party we organized to get the wedding party and family together. Yeah, most people showed up and we had a GREAT time, but there were several people who were just plain thoughtless. My goal for the next year is to not let these people bother me. J and I chose to put them in the wedding for a reason, and I won't let their myopia bring me down as I plan my big day.
Mom is currently focused on brainstorming for the centerpeices. We both agree that with so much natural floral beauty surrounding us we don't really want to have cut flowers on the table (for the bouquets and boutineires and such, of course!!). We're thinking about having potted herbs and flowers on the tables or something along those lines!! Personally, I'm getting excited about dress shopping :) My personal favorite designer is Alfred Angelo, and they JUST opened a shop in Springfield which I am VERY excited about!!! I'm thinking that my MOH's and I will swing by on Sunday to check things out and see what all this dress shopping is all about!!
I'm still suffering some "loss of identity" anxiety with regards to changing my name!! I feel very strongly about keeping my middle and last name, but at the same time I want to have the same last name as my husband and future children, so I feel like I'm going to end up having four names :) I already suffer loss of identity from moving to a different county!!!!! Not that I don't LOVE the new house (I absolutely ADORE it), but it's in a different county which has caused some angst.
J and I are both enjoying slowly but surely merging our lives together. While, of course, I'm having a blast planning the wedding and am SO looking forward to it and the honeymoon, I'm really just excited about spending the rest of my life with such a wonderful man. Does he drive me CRAZY sometimes? Of course, and I'm sure that I drive him bonkers from time to time as well, but we are learning to work through those hairy moments and truly be partners for life. It's so nice to always have someone to talk to about all the minute details of life ... someone to BUILD with those details to a great life for all time. I think that so many marriages fail because one or another person in it remain too focus on the "sparkle." Dating can be so much fun and so exciting, and it's easy to get pulled into the "well, it's the next step" argument for getting engaged ... and then you have this AWESOME party to plan and are getting presents all the time ... I can see how couples could be focused on the wrong thing and then they get back from the honeymoon and suddenly, it's just not exciting anymore. It's all TV and take out!
Personally, I like TV and take-out and have always prefered staying in and snggling up with a good movie to going to glamorous parties or bar hopping ... so and I am genuinely excited about the PARTNERSHIP. J and I are a great team. Do we always get everything right? No, we're human, but we can work through our problems and end up closer than ever at the end of it.
I think that the biggest challenge that I am facing as I plan this wedding is the potential to be disappointed. It's hard because I'm the first of my friends to get engaged and plan a wedding ... so people don't actually GET what I'm going through ... J and I pride ourselves in giving ALL we've got to our friends. We will absolutely drop everything for a friend in need, and it definitely hurts our feelings when friends and family don't do the same the one time J and I ask for it. My feelings have definitely been hurt by LOTS of people in the wedding party so far because it just doesn't seem like people care. I know, I will ALWAYS care WAY more about centerpieces and foods and dresses than anyone else because it's MY wedding and it's MY vision ... but it really does sting when people just seem to blow off wedding stuff ... particularly the party we organized to get the wedding party and family together. Yeah, most people showed up and we had a GREAT time, but there were several people who were just plain thoughtless. My goal for the next year is to not let these people bother me. J and I chose to put them in the wedding for a reason, and I won't let their myopia bring me down as I plan my big day.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Chapter 1: On Closing
Odd as it may seem to OPEN talking about CLOSING, in this case, it works. My boyfriend of 4 years and I got engaged while I was traveling in Europe (it is hard to beat Valentine's Day in Paris as a time and place to get engaged!) and pretty quickly established some of the basics for the wedding: we knew who we wanted in the wedding party, we knew we wanted to get married in my parents' backyard, and we wanted my uncle to officiate. We made these details official, told the family and friends and then spent our time enjoying being young, in love and in Europe for a week :)
J returned home after a week, but I still had another 1.5 months traveling (I know, tough break, right?) ... which complicated the fact that we wanted to buy a house and qualify for the $8,000 tax refund for first time home buyers. We started looking at listings online while we were still in Europe and J agreed to look at the houses while I was traveling and we could finalize everything when I got home ... instead he fell in love with a gorgeous lofted condo in Lake Ridge which was a short sale and I told him to jump on it. It is in the PERFECT location -- equally convenient (or inconvenient ...) for each of our commutes in opposite directions, was in our budget, in GREAT shape and just felt NICE. So, J jumped.
Ya know the problem with short sales? It's not just you and the person selling that you have to deal with ... noooo ... you ALSO have to deal with at least one of the sellers banks (depending on how many mortgages they have). Luckily there was only ONE third-bank, which made things easier. The seller wanted to renegotiate our offer and we reached an agreement ... and had a contract drawn up in time to qualify for the tax refund deadline. We were pre-approved for the mortgage ... all we had to do was wait for the bank. And wait. And wait.
While we were waiting (and waiting and hearing HORROR stories about people who tried to buy short sales ...) ... that pre-approved mortgage turned out to be NOT so pre-approved ... we scrambled to work something out with the lender who worked with my parents on their refi's ... and then we heard back that our offer had been approved. Fantastic ... we had the condo ... but, as of yet ... no mortgage. Super. We proceeded with setting a date for closing as the lender was confident that we would get financing ... so we set the closing date for Tues. May 25. Then our lender asked us to move it up to Wed, May 19 as she would be out of town the other date. We get final approval on the mortgage on Monday, May 17 and everything is looking good! We wake up Wednesday morning for the final walkthough and closing and have an email telling us that the paperwork from that third party bank has not been received yet ... and without it we can't close. So we wait. And wait. And wait ... and find out that they don't like the placement of a few sentences (and that moving them doesn't change the meaning of the contract at ALL!) ... but that they won't sign until the changes are made ... which means a new contract ... which means no closing today ...
Closing was rescheduled for Friday afternoon ... and when J arrived to sign everything he was informed that the money from OUR lender had been wired back due to NOT closing on Wednesday ... so again ... no closing. We rescheduled for Monday with a back-up date for Tuesday just in case. J goes in Monday after work ... and just over an hour later ... WE ARE HOME OWNERS!!!!
J returned home after a week, but I still had another 1.5 months traveling (I know, tough break, right?) ... which complicated the fact that we wanted to buy a house and qualify for the $8,000 tax refund for first time home buyers. We started looking at listings online while we were still in Europe and J agreed to look at the houses while I was traveling and we could finalize everything when I got home ... instead he fell in love with a gorgeous lofted condo in Lake Ridge which was a short sale and I told him to jump on it. It is in the PERFECT location -- equally convenient (or inconvenient ...) for each of our commutes in opposite directions, was in our budget, in GREAT shape and just felt NICE. So, J jumped.
Ya know the problem with short sales? It's not just you and the person selling that you have to deal with ... noooo ... you ALSO have to deal with at least one of the sellers banks (depending on how many mortgages they have). Luckily there was only ONE third-bank, which made things easier. The seller wanted to renegotiate our offer and we reached an agreement ... and had a contract drawn up in time to qualify for the tax refund deadline. We were pre-approved for the mortgage ... all we had to do was wait for the bank. And wait. And wait.
While we were waiting (and waiting and hearing HORROR stories about people who tried to buy short sales ...) ... that pre-approved mortgage turned out to be NOT so pre-approved ... we scrambled to work something out with the lender who worked with my parents on their refi's ... and then we heard back that our offer had been approved. Fantastic ... we had the condo ... but, as of yet ... no mortgage. Super. We proceeded with setting a date for closing as the lender was confident that we would get financing ... so we set the closing date for Tues. May 25. Then our lender asked us to move it up to Wed, May 19 as she would be out of town the other date. We get final approval on the mortgage on Monday, May 17 and everything is looking good! We wake up Wednesday morning for the final walkthough and closing and have an email telling us that the paperwork from that third party bank has not been received yet ... and without it we can't close. So we wait. And wait. And wait ... and find out that they don't like the placement of a few sentences (and that moving them doesn't change the meaning of the contract at ALL!) ... but that they won't sign until the changes are made ... which means a new contract ... which means no closing today ...
Closing was rescheduled for Friday afternoon ... and when J arrived to sign everything he was informed that the money from OUR lender had been wired back due to NOT closing on Wednesday ... so again ... no closing. We rescheduled for Monday with a back-up date for Tuesday just in case. J goes in Monday after work ... and just over an hour later ... WE ARE HOME OWNERS!!!!
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