Slowly Taking Over

Wedding planning is all-consuming.  I mean that in a really good way, but it's true!

I have been trying to take care of something wedding-related every weekend that we're home, but that's not as easy as it sounds.

We took advantage of our road trip up to Santa Barbara to listen to lots of wedding music, but didn't really make much progress with a formal playlist.

We interviewed officiants, but we can't decide which one to go with.

We have narrowed down our decision to two DJ companies, but we're having trouble scheduling a time to meet up with the possible DJs.

I wouldn't be worried except that our preferred videographer is already booked for our date, as was our preferred photographer.  So clearly people are already on their game for August 2014.  And if Sam had a regular job, this would be less of a scheduling issue, but he's about to start his more challenging rotation November through January.  Which means he won't have as much time to dedicate to planning during the week, and that's when the DJs want to get together.

Wonderful.  I guess if need be I can do some of this myself... but I really want Sam to be involved in our tasting and he is going to have be the driving force when we pick our live musicians.

One thing I haven't been doing enough of is focusing on my fitness plan.  I am simultaneously hopeful that Sam's longer hours this winter will make it easier for me to focus on losing weight and toning up for the wedding, and nervous that I'll be taking on a lot more responsibility and thus will be more stressed and less able to focus on myself.  The accountability is totally with me - so here's to focusing more on my health and less on the rest of the drama.

Especially because I think I found "the dress" on Saturday while I was shopping with Mom and Carina!

Goleta Lemon Festival 2013

Tomorrow after work we're heading up to Santa Barbara to see some old friends and finally check out Kevin and Dylan's new house... we're only about a year late to the show on that one.  C'est la vie!

It will be fun to not have to worry about booking a DJ or officiant or ordering invitations for a weekend.  Wow, it's funny how much time and energy wedding planning takes.

While we're in town, Cortney got us passes into the Goleta Lemon Festival.  It should be interesting to check out the madness that I am sure will ensue with lemon-flavored beer and lemon-flavored foods.  I am looking forward to some lemon pie, myself.

We're also going to get to meet Conan, Kevin's puppy.  We're hoping that he and Hunter become BFFs so that all our future camping trips can include some doggy fun.  Conan will be a bigger guy than Hunter so it will be interesting to see how they get along - Hunter mostly gets to interact with dogs who are around the same size as he is.

My grandparents will be in town for Ali's home opener volleyball game this weekend, too.  So Sam and I are going to meet them for breakfast on Sunday morning and then drive back to Orange County in time for Sam's soccer game.  Nonna and Papa haven't gotten to see us since we got engaged, so I'm very excited to show off my beautiful ring (and give Sam lots of credit for designing it) and celebrate with them.

Ahhhhh I wish it were Friday afternoon already!

Margaux's Bachelorette Weekend

I have been getting over a cold for the last two weeks and here I sit on the eve of a major girls weekend extravaganza in Santa Barbara.

Miss Margaux is getting married next month and she invited me to join she and her girlfriends for a bachelorette weekend, which is a real honor.  I have come to think of Margaux as part of my own family and the other longstanding girlfriend in Sam's family to share in the limo between being a part of the family du jure and being part of the family de facto.

Margaux is far more patient that I am, she waited 17 years for Pete to propose to her.

In charge of our weekend festivities is one of Margaux's dearest friends whom I enjoy immensely- Ingrid.  She is a UCSB graduate along with her husband, Sam, so I know we're going to do be in great hands.  It will also be interesting to see a mature bachelorette party, since I think this is more in line with how I'd like to celebrate next year.

It should be a great weekend, especially since it will be a long weekend vacation.  We're all taking tomorrow off to travel up in the morning and hanging out by the pool in the afternoon.  I just hope I can keep up with these ladies and not relapse with my head cold.

I also can't wait to get back home on Sunday and see Sam!  He gets back from Thailand on Saturday night and will get a warm welcome from Hunter before being on call on Sunday.  Hopefully it will be a quiet night and he'll be able to spend some time at home after I get here.

SB Boys Reunion- IE

There are some things that will never change... like the love we have for Sam's college roommates.

Nate, Ryan and Kevin have all recently moved, and we are overdue to visit all three of them.  This weekend we drove out to Upland (the Inland Empire) to visit Ryan.  Through the grapevine, Nate and Kevin found out about our trip, and they decided to make a weekend of it. 

So we ended up having a mini college reunion at Ryan's new apartment.  We also got to spend some more time with Ryan's girlfriend and meet Kevin's new girlfriend- both are really, really sweet.  One of the boys' post-college roommates happened to be town as well, and our favorite of Ry's dental school friends came out as well.  We had 6 adults sleeping in Ryan's living room Saturday night and I really wish I had a photo.  Kevin and Jo were on one air mattress, Sam and I shared another with Hunter, and Nate and Backer each had a sofa. 

I really wish we lived closer to those boys.  They are such great friends, truly they are always there for us.  Hunter got to come with us and it was so cute seeing them all interacting with him and realizing that someday they will be like that with our kids.

Ryan was just saying this weekend how lucky we are to have each other as friends, and I couldn't agree with him more.  These boys are more than friends, they are our family.