A Few More Bits and Pieces

I forgot some random little thoughts the other day, specifically in how strangely Dino and my expectations line up. 

A while back, I decided it would be cool to get married in a forest (specifically with woodland creatures around, but it's hard to invite chipmunks and robins and the like).  I think I mentioned it to Dino in passing, but that was a long time ago.  So when we were discussing weddings this past weekend, he mentions that, wouldn't you know, he dreams of getting married in a forest!  (I promise not to implant any ideas into his mind that could be problematic, although it is tempting to use my newfound mind control more...)  While my thoughts have kind of shifted (in that I like neon and bright colors, which may not be harmonious with the outdoors), I still really love this idea.  Nature is beautiful. 

His dad is a pastor, and he has told everyone that he wants his dad to marry him, and to this I wholeheartedly agree, and can't imagine anything different.  However, it is funny that while he is 100% sure he wants his dad to marry him (us?), he is also worried about how his dad will, uh, adlib...  go off script...  insert some humor and unplanned thoughts into the ceremony.  It's true.  He will, but it will still be wonderful!!!  His dad is so amazing, and warm and loving, and while he may say a couple unexpected things, I can only imagine they'd be perfect. 

We were talking about all the little fancy desserts they had at the wedding, and Dino said he'd like just tons of different kinds of cookies.  Boy likes cookies better than pretty much any other dessert.  I told him about a tradition that is completely foreign here in the PNW, but commonplace somewhere on the east coast (Pennsylvania, I think?).  The Cookie Table!!!  The cookie table is a glorious table, and the bride and groom ask people in their lives (ones who volunteer is preferable) to make several dozens of a kind of cookie (hopefully their specialty), and then the cookies are placed on a table for guests to enjoy a bit of the guests of honors' childhood and familiar flavors.  I am absolutely in LOVE with this idea.  I think it would be a nice way to include our friends and families in the production of the wedding, and maybe a neat little favor. Although, I love cake more than most things, so we would DEFINITELY need an amazing, delicious cake still.

Speaking of favors, I also told Dino about the beer bread mix favors Mrs. Pretzel had at her wedding, even in bottles, and he seemed to love it.  We also brewed beer the other day, and he announced to everyone (a couple of his coworkers and me) that he will be brewing beer to serve at his wedding, which I think is an amazing idea.  I think it would be fun to either just do that, or also have homebrew as favors as well (custom labels!). 

It's nice to see that we are on the same page for so many things, even though I still can't picture what I want overall, these little details are awesome.

Some random thoughts right now...

Not much has changed since I blogged last...  Been pretty much the same for me (aka, no ring...)! 

My best friend recently asked me for some ideas of rings I like, just in case.  Talk about making me suspicious!  However, Dino just had to get some major car repairs done, costing nearly 3k, which is ridiculous, so I don't think he has much extra cash at the moment.  My car also just went into the shop (he literally drove my dying car to pick up his fixed car, and left mine there.  Talk about perfect timing...).

We also just went to a wedding in Portland, which was fun.  Always nice to see weddings up close and personal!  Really makes me list things I do and don't like, things I may do or will definitely steer away from.  Afterwards, a drunk Dino and I were talking, and he asked me to describe my wedding I've been planning in my mind.  I honestly couldn't, though.  It isn't like I can make any decisions without a timeline or, you know, a fiance, or budget or anything.  I tried to explain this, and he seemed touched that I would take his ideas into consideration, but of course I would!  It isn't just going to be MY wedding.  Plus I feel like I look at wedding blogs for the pretty, and for general ideas, rather than specific plans.  But it seems he is thinking more about our future wedding, even if it is just drunk Dino saying things about it. 

Soon enough, though...  soon enough I'll be planning my own wedding!  I hope so, at least!!!

Down Under and back!

Recently, Dino and I went down to AUSTRALIA for two weeks of awesome, including the wedding of a dear friend of mine.  It was, obviously, amazing!!!  We spent time at Gold Coast, Brisbane (where the wedding was, and where I studied abroad a few years ago), and then at North Stradbroke Island.  Aside from getting nasty colds, it was the best vacation in a long time.  Two whole weeks! 

Going to the wedding was fantastic, it was great to see a wedding in person since becoming a little obsessed with weddings.  Plus we later got to talk with my friends, the newlyweds, about what they thought of the wedding and what they expected and everything.  They did say it was weird to be done with the day they spent 8 months planning, so I can only imagine what people planning weddings for a year or more go through after the day comes and goes.  Makes you think a little, put it into perspective some!  Just one day, for sure. 

Later, we were stopping at a bottle shop (liquor store) for some refreshments, and the boys ran in and my friend and I stayed in the car, and she simply said "I thought he was going to propose."  In the excitement of the trip, the idea of proposal had barely touched my mind, but the fact that she had expected that and had actually talked to her mum and sister about it make me think I might not be crazy for expecting it sometime soon!  Well, he didn't, but my friend believes it is coming, since we are going to so many weddings this summer, and he may see how non-scary they can be.  Of course, her romance was slightly different (long story, but the groom is just cool like that), but I dunno.  It was good, though.  Nice to talk to someone also into the wedding industry a bit at the moment.  And get her view on everything. 

Now, however, I cannot wait to go back, and cannot wait until I get to plan my wedding.  And can't wait for the next 2 weddings we're attending this summer!  Oh how I love weddings...

The planner

I'm definitely not the most organized person.  My apartment was always a bit messy, I've never had a clean desk at work, and I've been able to utilize a daily planner for about 3 days, tops.  That said, when it comes to events and upcoming things that are out of the ordinary, I am a list-maker-extraordinaire!  For example, a group of friends and I are going camping in a little over a week.  We'll be gone for 2 nights, so no big deal really, but I have booked the campsites and created a fantastic spreadsheet for meals and supplies.  One page shows the schedule, what we'll eat and need and when.  One page is the shopping list, with a Costco list, a grocery store list, a list of foods to gather at home, supplies I have at home, and finally a list of things I hope someone else has.  Finally, a list of things to do the day we leave.  And now I'm looking for more lists to make, to make sure everything is ready.  I can't wait to finally shop for everything, and get everything prepared and packed! 

I'm loving this.  Loving planning for a simple little trip.  I can't imagine how much fun it will be to be planning a bigger event, a wedding!  It might be overwhelming, though, since I'm making this little camping trip into such a huge thing.  I feel like I'm preparing myself for a bigger planning project, ready for the challenge of making lists, making plans, and putting together a fabulous event!  I love ensuring that people are cared for and fed and enjoy their time, making it easy on them.  So I'm ready, and excited to plan.

How quickly did you burn out from planning?  Did you feel like you were getting ready to plan a wedding by planning other events?

Ghostland

For some reason I was clicking through some of my friends' and favorite band members' blogs that I used to follow a year or two ago, and realized that most of them are deserted!  It's weird to read thoughts a friend had a year ago, knowing that isn't what they are thinking today probably, but I still feel a connection to them.  I need to make sure this blog doesn't head that same way!

Then there are amazing websites like Weddingbee, where the discussion is lively all the time, never taking a break!  I love it.  Even when a bee retires, they often still occasionally pop back in for a word or two. 

This makes me curious to search out older wedding blogs to see what ideas were new and happening 2, 3, 5+ years ago!  When candy bars and photobooths were just being dreamed up, and bunting, bird cages, and pom poms weren't all the rage.  Back when pink and brown, or yellow and gray were still very current, very modern color combos!  Now I feel like all of these are losing popularity due to their "trendiness," which makes me reevaluate what trendy means to me.

Does trendy mean that it is outplayed, overused?  Will it date the photos someday?  What's wrong with dating the photos?  If I dreamed of having dahlias at my wedding 10 years ago, but today they are too trendy, should I not have them?  If I love birds and owls and incorporate them into my life currently, can I still use them as a design feature for my wedding, even if it might look like so many other weddings?  Or should I pick something completely out of the box, maybe I'll do avocado green and neon orange as my colors, with pansies, and feature earthworms and beetles?  As far as I'm aware, none of those are trendy.  But on the other hand, I don't particularly like any of those, and don't want them in my wedding!  So how bad is trendy?  Do I really need a personalized reason to include something, or can I just like it, whether or not other brides are doing the same?

This is a kind of tricky topic, since everyone has their own opinions and thoughts on what is actually trendy, and everyone has their own preferences.  Some people value their originality over things they like, while others may be less concerned with being groundbreaking, and more inclined to create a pretty wedding.  Plus there is the fact that most people who aren't engaged (or crazy like me) won't be reading wedding websites and won't know what is trendy.  Which also makes me wonder, are trends moving faster, now that every time a new one comes along we are bombarded with images of the first people to adopt the trend, so we get burnt out on it faster?

Anyway, something to ponder.  I'd include more photos, but I'm not sure what to feature!

On Wedding Talk

The other night, I told Dino that I may or may not read wedding blogs occasionally.  Obviously I meant may not, since I read them CONSTANTLY!  I’m not trying to keep it a secret from him, I’m trying to not freak him out.  He seems to get nervous about commitment, and while he knew I am drawn to watching wedding tv shows, he didn’t know how much I read and see about weddings every day.  I’m trying to clue him in more, though, so he knows just how crazy I am, but I don’t want to overwhelm him! 

image from http://skrockidesign.com/aboutme.html

This conversation led to an interesting one, though!  He said that I will probably already have our wedding planned in like a week after getting engaged, and that I probably have all the details picked out.  From there he decided to start planning our wedding with some hilarious ideas.  First it was an 80’s themed wedding.  He would wear a bright turquoise suit while I wore a puffy sleeved white dress, or he’d be in a white suit with bright accents.   I think I was going to wear hot pink in that case.  I ended up vetoing it, mostly because he wanted to carry the theme too far, and also – puffy sleeved dress?  No way Jose! 

image from http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/34401/tron-2/images/tron-legacy-20090724083528583.html

THEN he decided we should do a Tron themed wedding.  Everyone would be dressed in the black with the light-up strips on their outfits.  He even said he’d build me a light-cycle to ride down the aisle!  Then we would either hire Daft Punk to DJ the wedding, or, since that would be way too expensive, have his friend dress up like Daft Punk and DJ it.  This theme also got a veto because I hadn’t heard of Tron until like 2 years ago after I met Dino, and I’m not super impressed by either movie so far…  If I had grown up with Tron and loving it, maybe it could get some more consideration, but I am also not opposed to maybe including some light strip things in areas of the wedding.  That would be sweet! 

image from http://leehoover.com/wp-content/uploads/sounders.jpg

He also suggested a Seattle Sounders themed wedding, but as much as I love my Sounders, I’m not ready to have them take over my life.  I think we kind of agreed that the rave green color from the Sounders would be a good color, and he could wear a shale colored suit, so at least he could represent, but I didn’t want it to go too far.  But I love the rave green color, so that would be an awesome color (along with pink, even though he isn’t a huge fan of it) for our wedding. 

Most of all, I am excited that we actually talked about OUR wedding.  Not my wedding, not when I get married, but when WE get married.  WOW.  I think that might actually be the first time that’s really happened.  Even if most of it was jokey and silly, it’s nice to know he’s thinking about it some and envisions us getting married.  He’s also recently been thinking about buying a house in the next year or so, but said he wants my input, since I’ll eventually live there.  So sweet.  Of course, that just gets me wondering some more about when it’ll be official, but baby steps are being taken!

Excuse my delay...

Wow, it’s been awhile!  I got caught up in life for a bit there.  There have been some major changes (nothing involving new bling, though), between me leaving my previous job, getting offered a job at 3:30 pm on my last day of work, packing up my apartment, celebrating my birthday, moving all my stuff to my parents’ house (boo), and then staying at Dino’s place so I could be closer to my new office…  It’s been crazy!  I’ve been trying to seriously cut back on my wedding-blog-stalking, especially at my new office (good impressions and all!), but I still catch up during lunch or at home.  But it’s helping me be a little less obsessed.  Probably good in the long run!

I’m not trying to make this blog a “when’s he going to propose” kind of thing, but I thought I’d note that the big holiday season has now passed.  Christmas, New Year’s, our anniversary, Valentine’s Day, and my birthday are all within about 2 months, so it seems like the perfect time.  But I guess there doesn’t need to be a special day to get engaged; it would be a special day in and of itself.  So I really want to forget about it altogether!

Anyway!  For some reason I’ve been noticing and thinking a lot about favors.  Wedding favors are kind of a weird thing in my opinion.  You invite guests, they bring you a gift usually, but you feed and entertain them.  I almost feel favors are unnecessary and extra expense, and usually are pretty dumb.  I don’t think most people want trinkets with your names and your wedding date on them.  The only favors that seem reasonable are edible ones!  People will enjoy those at least.  I like the idea of making something delicious to hand out.  I saw one couple that made beer bread mix, packaged in large beer bottles, that was adorable (Mrs. Pretzel on Weddingbee!), but I also like the idea of homemade beer and/or Jones Sodas with personalized labels (for the non-drinkers).  Plus Dino loves beer and loves brewing his own beer.  Or there are always cookies (I make amazing chocolate chip cookies that would be great to make the dough ahead of time, then bake the day before).  

Another thing – everyone says to avoid doing everything yourself, but I really feel a desire to do some things, like make the cake or favors or some food, because I enjoy it and I think it would be extra special that way!  I’ll probably change my mind once I’m actually planning a wedding, but it would be fun in my mind right now.  I absolutely love to bake, though, and really like to share what I make with others – what better excuse than a wedding?  Hopefully my friends will think of me and ask me to bake for their weddings in the future…  J  Plus something about knowing that any issues were my fault and not the result of hiring someone who wasn’t capable makes me feel better.  I have a thing with being responsible for my own stuff.  (It actually translates to my work too – I don’t think I’m a very good team player sometimes because relying on others so much and having them rely on me makes me nervous, but excelled at school because if I didn’t do something or did something wrong, it was only my own fault and I was the only one responsible.)  So yeah. 

Okay, that's all I have for now!  I'm trying to get back on track now that some major things are over, although I still have to find a new place to live and move in...  yikes!

The Dino-man

I want to introduce you to my love, "Dino" as I call him here.  This boy is wonderful.  He's my first real boyfriend (I don't think the high school "boyfriend" I had counts...), but somehow he's turned into the one guy I want to be with forever.  We met via the internet (oooh, online dating....), and I had NO expectations.  I thought he'd be a nice guy to meet, have some fun with, gain some love experience, and just basically met him on a whim (he was also the 3rd guy I met from that dating site, the first two turned out to be duds, so I didn't really think anything would happen with Dino).  Boy was I unprepared for him!  I was really cautious and tried not to fall for him very quickly, but before I knew it we'd been dating for 6 months, were going on a cruise together, and had said the L word.  I hardly knew what was happening, I wasn't a boyfriend kind of girl and here I was in a long term relationship!

On maybe our 5th date, he told me that he was hoping to get married soon, since all his friends were married, one couple with a kid already.  It totally freaked me out.  I was so not ready to even think about marriage.  After a year, I started thinking about it more, and thought I was ready to at least start hoping a little, and then a couple months later we started talking about the possibility.  Nothing concrete, just the idea of someday.  Now it's been two years, and I'm thinking about it more than ever.  We talk about it occasionally too.  I was watching a wedding horrors show, and he said something about how I will be the best wedding planner ever, since I watch all these wedding shows - if he only knew!

He also asked one time, while drunk, what kind of a ring, if someone were to buy me one, I would like...

A long time ago, we had a discussion about living together.  We don't live together, but also decided we won't live together until we're married.  We talked about it a bit, but I think my main reason is that if we lived together, nothing would change once you got married.  There was also the issue of jobs (we work in different cities) and he has a roommate.  But mainly it would be nice to have something distinctly different once married, something that makes you feel different all around in your life.  So yeah.  It would be NICE, especially since I am losing my job and moving back to my parents' house (long story...), but I wouldn't want to break our agreement and force him into anything he wouldn't want!

Anyway, there you go, a little history on us and our relationship.  I truly love the boy, and am really hoping and excited by the idea of being together forever, once that happens!!

Already?

So last night I had wedding dreams.  Let me remind you - I'm NOT even engaged!!!  But nonetheless, wedding dreams.  It is also interesting that I spent the night alone.  Anyway, to the dream.

I dreamt that I had two weeks to plan a wedding, so it was already rushed and crazy.  Then the wedding day arrived, and it was weird and we were rushing around, and the venue was this restaurant overlooking water.  There was an upstairs area for getting ready, and my hair was a mess, and I almost wasn't ready in time, and was rushing around to get prepared.  The weird thing was the ceremony - it was a two part ceremony, but for some reason, Dino (let's call my boyfriend Dino, okay?) and I weren't allowed in the first part, so we were hanging out upstairs and peeking in during that part.  It was really strange.

I think I had a second dream about weddings too, but I can't really remember it anymore (I knew I should have written it down as soon as I woke up!!).  I think it had something to do with me telling Dino about my wedding blog obsession, and then him proposing.  But I'm not positive.

Waking up, that was so weird.  I almost wonder if it is related to starting this blog...  Silly me! 

The Obligatory "Hello, and Welcome!"

Hello, and welcome!

I realize that pretty much 0 people will read this first post anytime soon, but should someone be at all like me, eventually it will be read!  I have the habit of discovering blogs, going back to the first post, and reading every. single. post.  It's quite time consuming, but I enjoy it.

So years and years and years ago, I had a livejournal account that was open to everyone, then slowly I became more worried about privacy, and closed it off, first allowing friends to read it, and now no one can.  But I love the idea of someone out there reading my words, however unsignificant they may be.  Plus I have an idea of a theme finally!

I have a confession.  I am addicted.  Super addicted.  To wedding blogs.  Yep, wedding blogs.  Pictures of pretty dresses, DIY decoration tutorials, theme and color ideas, recaps of all events, pretty flowers, and everything else that goes along with it.  The confession part?  I am not even engaged.  Nope!  No ring on my finger.  I do think it might be somewhat excusable, as I have been with my wonderful boyfriend for over two years, and we have discussed marriage a bit, and we're pretty much on the same page as to where the relationship is going.  So at some point, I do expect to be engaged, and I'll have a head start, right?  I've even started writing down ideas in a notebook!  Wow, that is kind of pathetic, but I just can't stop reading the blogs! 

Hopefully at some point this will evolve into a wedding blog itself, just to document my own foray into the wedding world.  I do realize that a wedding day is just one day.  And I am fully aware that the marriage is way more important than the wedding.  I am sure I want to be married someday, more than just have a wedding, but that doesn't mean I can't throw a rockin' party to celebrate such a momentous occasion! 

So I don't think I'll be posting a TON for now, unless I happen upon interesting things I want to share, but I am hoping this blog might evolve to give it more of a purpose.  I hope you enjoy!