#230: Boxes

I meant to post this earlier in the day:

Last night, my friend Alyssa came over and hung out! I was working on wedding stuff and she had just finished the Susan G. Komen 5k Race for the Cure. So proud of her! Anyway, I decided (and Alyssa happily helped, bless her soul) to tackle the mounting number of boxes I have packed in the basement, bringing them upstairs to the main floor. Since we're moving in to our apartment on Thursday, my mom thought it would be a good idea to have all the boxes/bins on the main floor, so everybody helping us wouldn't have to tackle the stairs. And since I'm pulling boxes from the basement and my second floor bedroom, it helped me to get a good idea of just how much stuff I actually have.

And boy, is it a lot of stuff!! I have half the living room full, not including any furniture. And as for furniture, I'll be taking a recliner, an armless chair, a tv, a kitchen cart, a dining room table and at least four dining room chairs. Along with the rather large sections of our Sleep Number bed (graciously given to us by my parents, who decided to get a new bed). And don't forget our IKEA purchases from the other night!

This moving thing is for the birds, I tell ya! All I know is that we're not moving again for a LONG time.

Luckily, I have a cutie who wants to be packed up too:

#229: IKEA, Unloaded

I told you I'd let you know what we got from IKEA the other night and here I am!

J and I really like the MALM series (in the black-brown for our bedroom) and decided we'd get the two drawer dressers and use them as nightstands.

Imagine our surprise when we got to the showroom and realized just how SMALL they were! The width and depth were fine, but they were super short. Definitely wouldn't work as nightstands. So, plan B. We decided to move up in size to a three drawer dresser.

It's about nine inches higher than the two drawer dresser, which will make it a perfect height for a nightstand. We decided to buy one, and try it out before buying another one. I won't be living in the apartment until after the wedding, so J will be trying out the nightstand/dresser.

We also decided to purchase the four drawer version of the dresser. Our original plan was to purchase two of the two drawer and two of the four drawer, but since we upgraded to the three drawer, we decided to opt for only one four drawer (you still with me here?). With the original plan, we really only had eight full size dresser drawers for the two of us. With Plan B, we now have ten!

We also decided to get the protective glass for the top of the dressers. I was unaware that the glass came in white/clear, so we ended up purchasing it in dark gray, which is still totally fine.

On our way out of the self-service area with our dressers and glass, we passed a display for the LACK coffee table. I thought, what the heck. It's only twenty bucks! We picked it up in the birch veneer for our living room. Why that color and not a dark color for the living room, you may ask? We decided to match it to the kitchen cart I picked up a couple weeks ago. The kitchen cart will be living in the dining room as a sideboard of sorts, so putting the LACK table in the living room will tie the two rooms together.

 I also wanted to pick up a couple wastebaskets. I knew that IKEA would have silver ones, and I knew we at least needed one in our bathroom/bedroom area and probably another one in J's office or somewhere. So we picked up two of these puppies (at $3.99 a piece, not too shabby):

I won't lie. The trip was a little expensive. For all of the items I listed above (one-three drawer dresser, one-four drawer dresser, two glass tops, a coffee table and two wastebaskets), our total came to $248. But for everything we got, I think we did great. It was so much fun to pick out things for OUR home.

Three weeks to go!!

#228: Licensed to Wed!

The state of Virginia is actually letting us get married!

J and I headed to the courthouse bright and early (ok, not that early) to get our marriage license! After stopping for some grub at Starbucks, finding parking at the courthouse, giving up our iPhones, going through the metal detector (and THEN removing my belt) and stopping at the information desk, we made it! We gave the lady at the counter all our information and voila, we had a form. Then we had to go down to the window that the notary sat at. She had us raise our right hands and say "I do" after a bunch of stuff. I think it was important. Like, "do you understand that you're getting married?" or something like that.

It felt weird to say "I do" though! I had butterflies in my stomach and I'm sure a huge perma-grin on my face. This is for real! Can't wait for the REAL "I do" part!

#227: IKEA

Love IKEA. Had date night with J tonight. I bought at IKEA, he bought frozen custard. Not sure how that worked out...

Can't wait to show you what we got! But for now, I must tend to some DIY wedding projects. There's a cute boy here helping me.

#226: Two-Four, Ten-Four

I'm sitting here, going over my to-do list. SO many things are crossed off. It's amazing.

Tomorrow is my day off and I'm sure mom and I are going to kick it into high gear. We've got some lose ends to tie up, and little projects to finish. Tomorrow is actually our last full day to work on wedding things. We've got something going every day up until the wedding! Here's a little taste:

Saturday (6/4): Hair trial in the morning (with the fabulous Ash B!)
Sunday (6/5): Pantry shower in Richmond (hosted by our third mommy, Beth!)
Work Monday-Wednesday
Wednesday (6/8): Drive to Richmond to sign our LEASE! 
Thursday (6/9): Moving day!
Friday (6/10): Working
Saturday (6/11): Final meeting with our venue (final headcount due!!) and Bachelorette party
Sunday (6/12): Final pre-marital counseling session and unpacking boxes!

At that point, we'll be 13 days away from the wedding. Scary!

24 more days!

Photo courtesy of Jewel Peach Photography

#225: Nine-tenths

When I started this blog 225 days ago, I really thought my project would drag on and on. Yet here we are, 25 days away from the wedding and it seems like time has flown by.

When I was in college, and complaining to my parents about how long it was taking me to finish (granted, I did it in the standard four years), my dad, being the math major he is, would break it down for me. So in the middle of my senior year, when I was dreading my thirty-page thesis paper, along with the other fifteen credits I was taking, he informed me that I was almost seven-eighths (7/8) of the way done with school. That seems like such progress!

Today marks the completion of nine-tenths (9/10) of my blog entries. This has been such a near and dear (yet aggravating and annoying at the same time) project to me. I can't wait to look back on this and share my planning experience with my kids.

Since I haven't shared much of my recent projects with you lately, I'll give you the rundown on what I CAN tell you.

1. My programs are done. Completely. Like, put away, not to be taken out again until June 25th.
2. I am currently working on our ceremony wording. Our pastor gave me the script he used at a recent wedding, so I've been changing a few things and adding special "us" touches. Can't wait to see how it all turns out!
3. Final payments to our vendors are coming due. This is both exciting and stressful at the same time. I can say I am another step closer to my cake, and another step toward bankruptcy at the same time.
4. I have finally ordered everything that has to do with my wedding day attire. Once I get all the shipments in, I won't be able to wait to try it all on together!
5. I need to finish up my bridesmaids' gifts. I have just two things left to do and then they are completely done. Then I need to hide them because two of my girls are staying with me before the wedding!
6. I made, and then my mom re-made, a cute little pomander for our flowergirl/niece, Ever, to carry for the wedding. I will post about that later this week.
7. Only little details are left to do. Signs, favors (ok, not really little), escort cards, guest book, etc.
8. We're seven days away from our RSVP deadline. And I have almost half of my guest list still unaccounted for. Here's my little rant: "There's a stamp on the return envelope for a reason. I paid 44 cents to have you return a card to me. All you do is write your name and check yes or no. Simple as that." End rant.

Well, that's about it for now. Is there any detail you'd like to see a sneak peek of? Something I haven't talked about that you'd like to hear about? Tell me your thoughts!

#224: Happy Birthday

Today is my other "A" friend's birthday. Annie and I have been friends as long as Allison and I have been friends. The three of us went to breakfast this morning. With our three crazy busy schedules, it was a miracle that we were all able to get together!

Annie is my fashion diva. She keeps me up to date on the newest trends and is always sending me links to shoes and clothes. I love it! She is always reliable and always there for me when I need to talk (which is usually during the day, thank God for gchat!).

Since we forgot to take a picture this morning, here's a picture of the two of us from mine and J's engagement party last June!

Love you girlfriend! Happy Birthday again!!