First crisis: HANDLED!

Bradley and I have known that we were going to get married on a cruise WELL before he proposed. So the day after he proposed, I began researching cruise lines and wedding packages and destinations. After a few weeks, I decided that we were going to get married on a Princess Cruise to the Caribbean in August, 2011. I called Princess and they told me that their schedule for that time of year would be out in May. Therefore, starting May 1, I began checking their website every day to see if the schedule had been put out yet. By June 1, still no schedule. Patience is not a virtue I possess, so I called them. The woman assured me the schedule would be out soon and to just be patient. I hung up and tried to be patient.

The way that the Princess Cruise Line website works is that there are a list of destinations, a list of ships, a list of cruise-lengths and a list of departure ports. When you click on one, the Caribbean for example, the options still available to you turn blue and everything else remains white. I'm so used to clicking "Caribbean" and having everything after May, 2011, go white, it took me a moment yesterday to realize that there was MUCH more blue than usual!!!! In fact, it appeared they had put out their Caribbean schedule until March, 2012! The one month that was still white? August, 2011.

Nervous, I called the cruise line. After a very long time with a woman who was very kind, I finally got her to admit that Princess Cruise Lines would NOT be going to the Caribbean in August of 2011. I hung up the phone and proceeded to panic.

After several hours of e-mailing my friends, calling my family and forcing Bradley to drive up to my work during rush hour traffic to have dinner with me and "just talk this out," I finally came to terms with what I really wanted: I wanted to get married to Bradley on a cruise in the Caribbean with the greatest possible number of my friends and family around me. Initially we had decided that it was important for us to be married by the captain during a "day at sea," but that was going to have to go by the wayside (Princess and Celebrity - who also isn't going to the Caribbean in August - are the only cruise lines that can marry you at sea). We were also hoping to use a more elegant line, but that isn't going to be possible either.

In the end, we decided to go with Carnival Cruises. There are two possibilities, both during the same week of August, just with different destinations. So we've contacted our travel agent (my step-mother) and have asked her to talk to the cruise line about getting us booked on one of those two cruises.

I'm afraid to say more for fear of jinxing us, so I will simply close by saying that my first wedding crisis has officially happened and even Bradley said that I handled it well. I will admit to panicking for a few moments, but once the panic was over, I just tried to figure out what my options still were. Luckily I have a great support network around me who quickly started pointing out other options and ideas. And now I just play the waiting game...again... ;)

Easily Pleased

Though I ask a lot of the people in my life, I am very easily pleased. I ask my friends to attend celebrations and, yet, am delighted when they arrive. I ask Bradley for a date night and giggle unendingly when he makes it happen. And my happiness is always sincere; I am always touched when someone does something for me or with me in mind. This has not changed in regards to my wedding.

The first person to help me out was Jen Estroff, my maid of honor. The first month of Bradley and my engagement, she went through magazines with me, scouring for ideas and inspiration. More recently, she spent an afternoon helping make the paper flowers that will replace real ones throughout my wedding (the US Department of Agriculture doesn't allow transport of real flowers). I know that this is just the beginning of what I will ask Jen to do in the next 14 months, but I'm amazed that she has been so overwhelmingly willing to help!

Craig Big Eagle and Molly Beier have been instrumental in creating save-the-dates. Once Princess puts out their freaking schedule, we will be all set to go because of these two! Molly's ideas and photo manipulation have been extraordinary! I'm so lucky to have such a talented friend. Craig's patience has been fantastic, as well, tweaking tiny details until everything is just the way I want it! As the Queen of Everything Paper and a groomsman, I know that I will ask these two to do even more throughout the planning process, but I am touched every time one of them asks me how the Save-the-Dates are going or what else they can do for me.

Last week, however, the cake goes to Bradley. Bradley will take the LSATs tomorrow (it's technically Sunday right now, so tomorrow) and just received his last final two days ago to complete his undergraduate degree, so I've vowed to not bother him with wedding stuff until all of that is over. And I've been very good!!!! Imagine my surprise, then, when I open an e-mail from him on Wednesday tell me that he has found a wedding band for himself! This long before our wedding, he is asking for my opinion on one particular band. In my crazy brain, of course, I realized that this means that he has been looking for a band on his own! I happen to think that the band is perfect and, even more important, Bradley really likes it. So he bought it! He bought the band that will make him my husband!!!!!!!

This is certainly not the last thing I will ask him to do in the wedding process, but I'm so amazingly happy that he has done this!!!!!!!!!!!

The 100 push up challenge

I am, all things considered, generally pleased with my appearance. As I near 30, I am thinner than I was when I graduated high school, I eat better, I work out more often, and I drink more water. I buy better cosmetics that stay on longer and look more natural. And wow do I handle my hair better! I have more hair products that fit in my medicine cabinet and I use every single one of them. My body is toned; I have a single digit pant size. As I looked at wedding checklists (you knew it was coming back to the wedding, right?), I saw "get a personal trainer or join a gym" and thought to myself: 'Bah! I've got that covered already! ' And then I saw this:

Whoa Nellie!!!!! What is up with my arms?!?!?! All this time, I've been focused on making sure my abs have definition, keeping a dent in my thighs where my quads end and my hamstrings begin. What about my upper body? I have been totally letting my upper body slack!! Well, no more!! Today, at the suggestion of a blogger on www.weddingbee.com, I began the 100 push-up challenge.

I feel I should clarify, I don't think I have bad arms and I'm not fishing for compliments or anything like that. I would like everyone to keep in mind that I work for a ballet company. The arms I see the most are ballerina arms. I can't post any photos here because it's my job to keep things like that from happening, but just log on to www.pnb.org and see what I'm talking about. These are women with some ARMS! So, with them in mind, I have embarked on my newest challenge.

The challenge comes from www.hundredpushups.com. It's supposed to take you from doing no push-ups to 100 in six weeks. It works by having you do an initial test, doing push-ups until you just can't do anymore. Then you do 5 sets a day, 3 days a week on a regimented plan they lay out for you. For instance, during my initial test, I did 9 good push-ups. So for my Day 1, I did 6, then took a 60 second rest, then another 6 and another rest, then 4 and a rest, that again, then "max" which ended up being 7. I will now rest my poor arms until Wednesday, when I will follow a similar plan, but with higher numbers. And, in six weeks, I will do 100 push-ups! I am very excited for that day!

For now, however, my poor arms are shaky and just holding them out to type is difficult. I'd better go take a bath. :)

Well, here we go

Ever get the feeling that you're starting a really interesting time in your life? One in which a great many things will change? Well, I have that feeling. In less than a month, I will turn 30; a remarkable and rather life-altering time in and of itself. I am currently looking for new employment. I am planning on going back to school. Oh, yeah, and 2.5 months ago, I got engaged. So I feel I am rather justified in thinking that the next few months are going to be worth telling the world about.

I also think this will be a great way for me to keep talking about my wedding without destroying every friendship I have. :)

Well, let's start with why I'm really here: let's talk about my wedding. :)

Bradley and I have been together for nearly 3.5 years now. The story of how we met is best saved for another blog. As is the proposal 'cause it's a fun but not short story. For now, let's just start with a few facts about the wedding:

We're getting married on a Caribbean cruise in August of 2011. We think we're going to go with Princess Cruise lines, but they are taking FOREVER to put out their schedule for next summer and I'm getting super tired of waiting. They're killing me!!! We will then have a reception at our home in Seattle a few weeks after returning. However, because the cruise ship will basically plan everything for me and I love planning more than just about anything, I've decided to do as many things for myself as I can. First off, the US Department of Agriculture doesn't allow people to bring live flowers on cruise ships, so I'm going to MAKE flowers out of paper. Yes, my glue gun and I are becoming one as I will make every flower used in our wedding. I am also making (with the help of my dear friend, Molly) all of my own Save the Dates. Invitations will follow when the time comes. Let me simplify by phrasing it this way: Martha Stewart's Wedding website is now my homepage. :)

And now, I must call this a short entry. I received Martha Stewart Living's Summer 2010 Weddings magazine today and I have to go check it out!!!!!