Backtrack Time: Pre-Wedding
faith4jesus247
Today is the day where I put all work aside and catch-up on my neglected journal of life. Since my life IS so fun and interesting....

When I think back to the weeks before the wedding, I couldn't have imagined a more unexpected line of events. I had worked so hard to prepare a simple, yet cute and fun family wedding. My awesome fiance had other plans.

Exactly 2 weeks before the wedding...after evening services on Sunday, I asked Chris to sit down with me and talk about the processional and order of events for the wedding, so that we would be on the same page. The first surprise of the week came immediately.

Me: So I was thinking that you and Josh should walk in together at the beginning of the song.

Chris: What about Ben?

Me: What about him?

Chris: Well he'll be standing up there with me, too!

Me: Uh, no he won't. What are you talking about?

Chris: He's my best man!!

Me: He's your WHAT??? (Keep in mind....there was, to my knowledge....no bridal party at all!)

Chris: He's the best man...he's got to stand next to me!

Me: Chris! I don't have a maid of honor...when did you decide to have a best man??

The conversation went downhill from there. I'm pretty sure we didn't get past discussing the entrance to the wedding that night, as my mind was then FRANTIC on getting a maid of honor with 2 weeks to spare.

NEXT DAY:

(Talking to sister on phone)

Me: Soooo...guess what??!! I got my first wedding surprise!

Chair: Oh yeah? What's that?

Me: Umm....well...chris has a best man. That I didn't know about. That has already ordered a tux. That I have to now include in the program. And find a song for. And find a maid of honor to complement. How 'bout it? :D (conversation slightly exaggerated by the decreased level of stress and heightened sense of humor over time)

Chair: Umm...sure!

Me: Not to throw this at you last minute, or make you feel like I wouldn't have wanted you in the first place....but now we have 2 weeks to find and get you a formal red dress. Pick whatever you want....don't care about the style, length, whatever! Just a deep red to complement our fall colors.

Chair: Is that the color of his vest?

Me: Yes. He told me he got a red vest and tie.

Chair: Alright...no problem! I'll see what I can do!

NEXT DAY:

Me: Hey hon...good news! Charity is going to be the matron of honor. I told her to get any red dress she could find...so we should be good.

Chris: Red? Why red?

Me: (tensing up) Umm....beCAUSE....THAT'S the color you told me your VEST was? Isn't it?????

Chris: I only said that because you told me you didn't want to know what my tux looked like.

Me: ARE YOU KIDDING ME????!! What color IS your vest?

Chris: Burnt orange.

Me: Burnt orange?? Burnt orange!!?? How is she going to find a formal burnt orange dress in two weeks??

Chris: I don't know! But you told me you didn't want me to tell you what I got!

Me: That was BEFORE I knew we were having a wedding party at all!

NEXT DAY:

Me: Oh Chhhhhhhaaaairityyyyyy! Guess what? ANOTHER surprise!!! :D

FEW DAYS LATER:

I head to the tux shop on Saturday to pay off the remaining balance on the tux. When I arrive there, I see this BEAUTIFUL, rich burnt orange that looks amazing. *happy sigh* Okay, he didn't do so bad. I get up to the counter, and wait for his order to be pulled up.

Me: When I came in, I saw a gorgeous burnt-orange vest on a mannequin. Is that what he got?

Salesperson: Let me check for you. (Pause) Umm...the vest by the door is actually called "cinnamon". Your fiance got "hot orange".

Me: He did WHAT????

Salesperson: (noticing my slight surprise) Did you want to change it, ma'am?

Me: (heavily contemplating the idea) *not a happy sigh* No....I told him he could pick whatever he wanted. If he wants "hot orange", we'll go with HOT orange...

SAME DAY:

Me: Hey Charity! How do you feel about hot orange....?

**Note: Charity was awesome about the whole thing, and although "hot orange" would not have been my choice, it did end up working out okay. But I do write this before seeing the professional wedding pictures. Comments are subject to change.
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Measuring Tape Mishap
faith4jesus247
My obsession of the scale has turned into an obsession with the soft measuring tape as of late. That 2 inch gap in the zipper of my wedding dress when I put it on last Saturday is haunting me. I have been measuring myself at least once every day. More like 2 or 3 times. Just to check and see if my fat decided to go with gravity and move to the lower part of my body, where the zipper isn't an issue.

This morning, immediately after waking up and stepping on the scale, I walk into the second bedroom, where I keep my daily weight log and body measurements. I grab the blue tape off the dresser and wrap it around my upper body. I look in the mirror to make sure it's straight across my back, and not twisted at any point. Then I take the end and and pull it as tight as it will go (let's face it - when the dress DOES zip, it's gonna be tight!). No point in leaving any slack.

When I feel I've adjusted it just right, I look down to see today's outcome. What? No way! I lost 13 inches! That firming cream is uh-mazing! I looked in the mirror at myself, with my mouth hung open. Seriously? I look back down at the measuring tape to verify the numbers. Yep...it's definitely 13 numbers below the last one I wrote down.

Oh. Wait. I started at the wrong end of the tape. *Sigh*
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3 Week Update!
faith4jesus247
Life has gotten busy. School has started back, which means tutoring has begun again. My summer lifestyle of only working 8 hours a day has come and gone!

My week in Holland was so nice! Unfortunately, my camera broke in my luggage, so I didn't have the opportunity to document the week like I normally would. Most of my days were spent assisting an old English student with translating his business material into English, and my nights were spent catching up with old friends. The day I got back, I found our engagement picture proofs in my email inbox. Soooo exciting! Here are 2 of my favorites among many:


My wonderful church family threw me a wedding shower a week ago, and I couldn't have been more blessed! I was really dreading the awkwardness of having to sit there and open gift after gift while 20+ pairs of eyes watched me. I tried to go through it as fast as possible, to the point of completely forgetting to open the card before ripping apart the wrapping paper. Then I would show everyone the gift, and realize I didn't know who it was from. Oops. :)

I had a heart-to-heart with my new boss last Friday, where I sweetly* shared my thoughts about him and my slight discouragement with how little he seems to care about who I am as a person, and more about how I can make him look better. It appeared to have gone well upon the closing of the conversation, but I'm not holding my breath on any immediate changes.

20 more days to go! We got a call that Chris's wedding ring is ready for pick-up. Finally found more flowers at Hobby Lobby that I like enough to use for decorations. It's not exactly like the first bunch I got, but it works. My concern for these details are quickly dwindling. An amazing woman from church came over on Saturday to create a bustle for my dress, blessing me with not having to pay an unreal amount of money to an alterations department to do it. I hadn't tried the dress on in a while, and didn't know how far I was from fitting into it - but I feel good! I've lost 25lbs. total, and am now only 2 inches of back fat away from fitting in the dress. I can do it!

*debatable
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Unexpected Welcome
faith4jesus247
Obesity is sad. It's unhealthy, too common, and I hate looking at the number on my scale and seeing it tremble between "overweight" and "obese". It's always been a struggle, and I truly believe everyone should try their best to live a healthy lifestyle.

With that said...my week in the Netherlands was different this time than it's ever been before. As the plane landed, and I began to hustle through the crowd, trying to keep the fast pace of the ridiculously fit Dutch around me...I see something.

It can't be. No...I simply can not be seeing this. In the shops, on the escalators, in the bathrooms....it is everywhere! My mouth hung open as I continued walking. I stopped making the conscious effort to maintain a fast pace. I was dumbfounded by what I saw. Am I in the right place? Did I sleep through the announcement and land in LA instead of Amsterdam?

Curves. Everywhere! And not American curves....Dutch curves. As I look out into the sea of people around me, I'm no longer seeing all tall, lean figures, making my round shape more distinguished. There are hips and butts...and double-chins!! I can't believe my eyes!

Thanks for the best welcome present ever, Holland. :)
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US "Scare"ways
faith4jesus247
I'm a cheap person. Okay...not usually. But when it comes to flights, I get the cheapest flight hands-down. No thought to it. I've never paid attention to what airline my cheapo ticket is booked through, and never had an issue with any flight I've been on. But I don't think I can handle an international US Airways flight again (despite the fact that I have another opportunity to fly US Airways again in less than a week). The second I stepped on the plane, I noticed the screens in the aisle. No personal screen. I don't think I've ever been on an overseas flight where I didn't get to choose my movie entertainment. What do they expect me to do for the 8 hours and 5 minutes they've predicted it will take to be on dry land?? Savor the 12 peanuts they give me in tiny bag filled mostly with air? I'd rather pop the bag and scare the people around me.

In the past, stepping on the aircraft has resulted in a flight attendant asking me what my seat number is and directing me down the appropriate aisle. But she doesn't. She just smiles and cheerfully welcomes me aboard US Airways. I guess I'll have to play eenine-meenie-minie-moe this time. Oh. One aisle. Can't go wrong here! 6 seats across instead of 11? Tight! I find my way to my seat and politely ask the 2 people already sitting in my row to get up, cram into the already full aisle as I trample their belongings on the floor. I apologize for my large hips as my body rubs against them in an unavoidable manner. My bad.

I scrunch down in my seat, attempting to get my stuff out of the way as my seat buddies resettle themselves. I initiate chit-chat to get their mind off our unexpected intimate moment. It seems to work. However, it doesn't take long for me to get bored of their answers. I pull out the flight guide from the seat in front of me. Which is when I feel knees settling in my back. No worries, I was planning on staying awake all night anyway! I check the magazine for movie listings and music channels. Approved. I begin looking around my seat and in the pocket where the magazine was for headphones. Were there headphones in the seat when you sat down? No? Maybe they hand them out after we get going in the air. I can be patient.

*20 minute interval*

"Ladies and gentleman (Dames en heren), we have headphones available for those who would like to purchase a set. The cost is $5 or 4 euro. Please feel free to keep these for future flights with US Airways."

What? Did I hear that right? We get to keep the headphones we purchase? This is just too good to be true! *Standing ovation* US Airways has done it again, folks!

No, I didn't have $5. Or 4 euro. Silence. At least I have a pillow and blanket. Or sheet, rather. Or a piece of paper with fluff. I wonder if we could have kept that, as well. I forgot to grab it in the midst of my excitement to get off. The refrigerated "petite roll" and "white cream pasta" wasn't as fulfilling as I had hoped.

And I didn't get any peanuts, either.
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Restaurant Ridiculousness.
faith4jesus247
Chris and I scheduled our engagement photos for this past weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee (where are photographers live). It was the last time we would be in town to make wedding plans in person, so I made sure the day was fully booked!

From Day 1, I've been surprised at the ease in which we have been able to make appointments/reservations. All we keep hearing about is how crazy busy Pigeon Forge is during the month of October. I had planned on having to work harder at finding a venue, stylist, florist, for our day, but we've truly been blessed! Everything has gone so smoothly, and has thankfully been within our budget. Everything except the restaurant.

We initially wanted to reserve a post-wedding dinner for our family at a nice restaurant in Gatlinburg. Then we attempted to drive there. With the insane traffic and construction zones, it would take 1-2 hours to make a typical 15 minute drive. So that was out. I began calling restaurants in Pigeon Forge, but they either did not offer a private room, or were booked. So our main goal of the day was to secure an eating location (otherwise, asking our guests to drive up to 7 hours for our wedding would result in a 30 minute sitting in hard, white chairs in the unpredictable weather) I'd like to think we're more considerate than that. :)

We asked for advice before heading there for the day, and were told to visit a Southern restaurant (whose name will be withheld for reputation's sake!). Arriving at the restaurant resulted in the front desk hostess showing us 2 possible rooms to hold our dinner reception at. We were even allowed to bring our own tablecloths and cake with us! The back room can sit 60 people, and we are planning for 40...so that would be perfect! We were seated for lunch, so that we could try the food before making a final decision. At that point, we asked to speak to the manager to discuss details.

Which is where this wonderful day went downhill.

When the manager arrives - as wonderful and polite as he is - he bursts our wedding bubble by informing us that October is their busiest month of the year, and allowing us to book a room for 40 people, when they could sit 60...was going to be a loss of profit for them. He would be happy to let us reserve the room! As long as we understand that 20 additional strangers would be joining us for our celebration. Umm...no thanks. But then he tells us that they have another restaurant, just down the road, with smaller rooms. If we visit there, we might be able to reserve a room that is more suitable for the number of people we are having. Yay...a ray of hope!

Arriving at the second location, we are greeted with another wonderful hostess who shows us several rooms...one of which holds 43 people. Perfect!! We'll take it!

The manager then comes up and introduces himself, and pretends to listen while we explain our wishes. Stop. His facial expression is not encouraging me to continue on. He informs us that he wants to work with us and accomodate in anyway possible. Stop. But. I hate that word. But we can't guarantee that everyone in your party will be sitting together.

Huh? I'm sorry? You did hear me say that we're having a wedding reception, right?? That in order for it to be a successful wedding reception, we have to interact with our guests?! However...now that you mention it, I'd much rather parade around the restaurant in my wedding gown, surfing the crowd for the 42 people we invited, avoiding servers balancing trays of brown gravy and creamed corn on top of their hands. What fun our photographers will have, as well!!

Sarcasm intended.

We left. I called the number on the front of the restaurant business card to the group sales office to complain and see if anything could be done to accomodate us. After the gentleman answers the phone, I explain the poor response we received from the 2 managers at the restaurant. Which is when I find out that the person on the other end of the line is the manager at the first restaurant we talked to. Oopsy-daisy!

Flowers are ordered. Chairs are reserved. Different restaurant booked. And engagement pictures successfully completed. 47 days and counting...
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I was....wrong....
faith4jesus247
Okay....I'll be the first to admit I was wrong. I try not to let this happen too often, so I'll document it for you to have something to refer back to.

He's not near as bad as I predicted him to be. I have made it 4 whole days without throwing a sarcastic comment his way. I mean...the man knows how to use a phone! AND had me show him how to use the copier. AND walked himself across campus to get his parking permit. That's 3 things my last boss didn't know how to do! Uh-mazing!

However, I can't resist throwing in there - the desire to laugh out loud and curl up crying at the same time - when discussing money with the man. After finding out he owns 3 apartments (excuse me...condos) in 3 different states (and 1 in Spain, I believe??!!) and "x" number of cars - it completely threw me for a loop when we had the following conversation today.

Me: Hey - just wanted to let you know that I'm still having issues getting access to the budget. So you might want to consider ordering your book for class off of Amazon, so it gets here on time.

Him: Sure - how much is it?

Me: Less than $10 - shipping included.

Him: Oh, okay. Good. Will I be able to get reimbursed for that?

Me: Umm...you should be able to. Normally I would order it myself through the budget, but given the time crunch, it might be best to go ahead and order it yourself. Unless you want to take a chance and wait for the budget approval to go through.

Him: No, no...I'll go ahead and order it. But you're sure I'll be able to get reimbursed, right?

Me: Riiiiight.

Now I know he's got 3 (4?) mortgage and 3 (guessing!) car payments to make a month. But it's just my gut feeling that that $10 spent on his textbook isn't going to leave him hungry at the end of this month.

Regardless, I will make sure the reimbursement check is available for pick up, and not mailed to him. That way he can run to the bank and cash it ASAP.

PS. I just saw my debut in his welcoming ceremony video here at FSU. In case you don't want to watch the whole thing - I come in at 00:51. No judgement - there's not as much food on the plate as it looks!
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