Milton and I are having a great time being engaged, don't get me wrong, but I've uttered the phrase, "why don't we just elope" about a bazillion times since he proposed. Sometimes I'm joking, but mostly I'm serious. It would be so much easier, not to mention cheaper. We probably won't elope. Probably. I mean, we've devoted so many hours cutting down our guest list to a manageable size, we'd like to get something out of that investment in pissing off various close (but not close enough) family and friends.
I had envisioned my engagement period to be so much more relaxing. I thought I'd spend my Saturdays sipping mimosas at bridal fairs and pass my evenings flipping through bridal magazines and finding things online to register for. Actually, that sounds terrible, but I thought I'd have a lot more time to just enjoy being engaged. At the very least, I thought Milton and I might be able to spend an evening together that didn't involve making a thousand seemingly important but secretly ridiculous decisions. Here's what I've really been up to:
- Working. Life doesn't stop just because you find the one. My co-workers usually greet me with some form of, "how's the wedding planning going; that's great, now do this really important thing that isn't fun at all."
- Working out. I've got to get swimsuit ready by the honeymoon. I've seriously been slacking in the Weight Watcher's department ever since Milton and I started dating. I haven't gained any weight, but I haven't been losing either. I signed up for a fitness challenge at my gym to kick my own butt. So far it's working!
- Planning my wedding. This is actually taking up more of my mental energy than I had anticipated since I'm having such a small non-traditional wedding. So far, I've...
- Booked the venue - it's going to be at The Ranch, which is a local steakhouse.
- Picked the date - October 2, 2015. For those of you keeping score, that's the one year anniversary of our first date. Say it with me.....Awwwwww.
- Finalized the guest list - the venue only holds 70 people. There was plenty of weeping and gnashing of teeth to get our respective lists down to that number. I'll take this opportunity to apologize to most of Milton's cousins and about 40 of my close friends.
- Bought my dress and shoes - This was a bit of a disaster. I originally ordered this custom made dress from a company in China. It fit, but it looked way worse on me than the size zero, 6 foot tall model on the website. So I went to a local department store and found something that made me feel beautiful for a whopping $90. I got some killer shoes at David's Bridal. Side note: Please don't ever make me go back to David's Bridal again. It would take too long to describe my particular experience, but suffice it to say, bitches be crazy.
- Decided on a cake - There will be 7 tables of 10 people each at the venue, so I'm ordering 10 person Ribbon cakes from a local bakery. I'm so excited about this. I would have gotten married years ago, if I'd known about all the yummy snacks.
- Figured out decorations - There won't be any.
- Planned my flowers - There won't be any of those either.
- Selected my bridesmaid dresses - Oh wait, there won't be any bridesmaids.
- Booked the honeymoon - We're going to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic! Big shout-out to Milton's mom who gifted us the funds for the trip. We're staying at this amazing resort in a suite with a butler and a private garden, pool, and beach. I'm planning on living out some of my Downton Abbey fantasies with the butler, meaning I'm going to make him bring me lots of food.
- Scheduling various pre-wedding events - It's been a real challenge to get all my bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and girls' trips scheduled in the few weekends between now and October 2, but somehow I've made it all work.
- We registered - I was dreading this process so much, mostly because Milton and I have like 3 of everything, but we actually got it all done this past weekend. We registered at Bed, Bath, and Beyond (because it's like a rule or something) and Dillards. We tried to register for a good variety of things in lots of different price points. We'll find out at our showers if we succeeded or not. By the way, I'm going to use this post as our "please just give us cash" registry. Wait, is that rude?
- Engagement pics - We completed our engagement pics last weekend, and boy, Milton was such a champ. We took literally 400+ pictures at 3 locations, with 3 wardrobe changes. I'm tired just thinking about it. Here's some of our proofs. All pictures are by my best friend Mandy Edmonson who owns Focused Memories Photography:
I literally could not be any happier with how the pictures turned out. It must have something to do with how happy I am, because normally I hate pictures of myself.
In addition to all the wedding stuff, I've been trying to sell my house and get ready to move. This is definitely taking up all my time right now, and it's making me want to eat all the cookies. Like all of them. Even the gluten-free ones. I listed the house for about a week and ended up selling it twice. It sold on day one to some woman who got cold feet and asked to be let out of the contract two days later. Then it sold again on day 5 to a guy who seems more serious. Inspections were this week and weren't great. Turns out the house needs a new roof, so I'm trying to get that filed with insurance with the hopes that I can get a new roof done by our current closing date of July 7! I'm also trying to pack up my house to move to Milton's house. Actually, I'll be moving to a friends house pre-wedding, but my furniture and stuff will already by at Milton's. It's going to be a long 3 months living out of a suitcase.
Every night after work, I race home and pack as much as I can, then I drive a carload's worth over to Milton's house and fill his hallway with boxes. Conveniently, Milton is usually playing tennis or something. I'm suspicious. Then I drive home and go to bed, so I can be at the gym at 6am the next day to start the cycle again. This routine is getting old. Hence the drinking.
I cannot add one more ounce of stress to my life right now, which is why it's so great that I'm turning 32 next week. Nothing about aging is ever stressful. At least I have a shiny engagement ring to stare at all day. Plus, Milton was very concerned about whether I would be at work on my birthday, so I can't wait to see what that's all about.
I'm guessing he got me a stripper-gram.
