One decision down. . .

I have a wedding date. On May 14, 2011, I will be married!!!! Whooo hooooo.

I am really excited about this date. It's what I had in the back of my head all along. I tried not to wish for it too much so that i would not be disappointed if it did not work out. But, it did! In fact, it was the only date in May that our venue still had open. It was fate!

I think it's the perfect date. It's far enough away from my birthday so that I can have two celebrations. It's early enough in May that it should not be too hot. And if it is warm, the evenings should still cool off.

Plus, Mike and I first met on June 14 so the 14th is a special day for us. We'll be married 23 months to the day we met! That's pretty cool.

We picked the Links at Gettysburg for our wedding site. We are going to do the reception and ceremony all here. That will keep it easy. Plus, the setting is really pretty so we'll have lots of nice pictures and it should be a lovely atmosphere for the guests.

The ceremony - weather permitting - will take place on this pretty little patio.
But, if it rains, the wedding will still be pretty. The ceremony will be by this quaint little fireplace.




Then, we'll get to take cool wedding pictures outside. Like, on this pretty little bridge.



or by this cool waterfall.

And then it will be time to party! The reception - in the room below - should look really pretty. Colors and flowers TBD.



Hopefully it will be amazing. But even if everything goes crazy, I'll still be MARRIED to Mike at the end of the day. And that's all that matters. :)

Where to get married?

Finding a place to get married sounds way more fun than it actually is. I am feeling really stressed out about it.

There's just so much that goes into this decision. We need to find a place that is affordable, in a good location, and is elegant. I do not want an overly fancy wedding but I would like one that is classy and memorable.

It's also hard because to keep it affordable we are going to be married in the Hagerstown/southern PA area. So, we can only look at places on the weekends. The last couple of weekends have been full of wedding location scouting. We've nixed a couple of places and are down to three. I hope that no other places cross our paths because I like being down to the final choices. I'm hoping to have a decision by the first weekend in May.

This weekend we are checking out the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown, WV. I used to go here all the time for special dinner (i.e. graduations, birthdays, anniversaries, etc). It's also the place where Mike first met my parents - we met there for brunch. It's a picturesque Inn just over the Maryland border in West Virginia. It would be a fun place to have a wedding because people could easily stay at the Inn or in a nearby bed and breakfast or hotel. Plus, Shepherdstown is a quaint little town that would be fun for people coming from out of town.

One place that we've already checked out that is still on our list is the Waynesboro Country Club. This is right in my parents' town. It's a very pretty location and it gives us the most flexibility in terms of decorations, size, etc. It's also the least expensive. But, it has a few drawbacks - namely that it's in Waynesboro. Everyone would have to stay in either Hagerstown or Chambersburg and that would mean a lot of driving for people who are not familiar with the area. I'd provide directions of course but it's still a bit problematic.

A new venue that was just referred to us is the Links at Gettysburg. This is a golf course in Gettysburg, PA. It would be kind of cool to be married in Gettysburg because it is one of my favorite towns. The pictures are also really pretty. A big plus for this place is that a lot of things - including the cake - are included in the package price. Plus there are a ton of packages and all can be customized. That appeals to me. Another plus is that the ceremony could be outside and it's a very picturesque place. But, the downside to that is if it rains, we are screwed. Sure, it could be moved inside but it would not be as nice. However, we could decide to have the ceremony in a church and just have the reception here. There's a lot up in the air. We are going to visit this location soon. It's the last on our list and then it's decision time!

I cannot wait for this decision to be made. It's the one that has me stressed out the most because it will determine our date. I really want to have a date nailed down. Then, we can take our time with some of the other details and I can work out a schedule (I am a production person after all). But, until we have the date and the location we cannot do much else!

Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday to Me

It's my birthday today. Happy Birthday to me!

My 28th birthday is far different from my 27th birthday.

For example this time last year, I had accepted my dad's dare to try online dating. Today, I'm engaged and planning a wedding. And last year, I was watching some dumb movie about the apocalypse starring Nicholas Cage. This year, I'm LA bound. Weird.

All in all it's been a great year. And, I've received some kick ass birthday gifts.

Like these from my fianceAnd this from my parents.
And something from my sister to put it all it.
So now I'm off to celebrate. Hopefully a fun dinner in LA will be in my future.

Liberty of London

I am obsessed with Target's new Liberty of London collection. It's awesome because I cannot afford anything at the actual Liberty of London store so the Target version is perfect!

Unfortunately most of the collection is already sold out. Almost everything is sold out online. I was however able to find a few things in the store.

I bought this really cool picture frame which I am saving for when I have a picture of Mike and I. I guess this means that I actually have to take a picture. I hate having my picture taken so this is rough. I swear I'll be the only bride who wants to not have a wedding photographer. . .

Anyway, I also bought a really cool sun hat to bring on vacation.





And then I decided that since I now have a wedding plan to organize, I am going to be organized in style! I bought file folders and a box to keep everything in.


Might as well take advantage of necessity! :)

I'm Engaged!

As I write this post, I still have to pinch myself that this weekend actually occurred. It doesn't seem possible that I am actually engaged!


On Sunday, Mike and I had brunch reservations at the Kennedy Center. I won't lie. I thought that something was up and I was pretty sure that it was the day he would propose. But, I did not let that on to him because I didn't want him to feel pressured to change his plans. Being proposed to at the KC is like the perfect thing for me. I LOVE the Kennedy Center. Seriously, if I could have a relationship with a building - that would be it.

He was pretty nervous all morning which is kind of cute in retrospect. He had told me earlier in the week that he was going to give me my birthday present early because he wanted to do it over brunch. I thought this was weird but just went with it. It did throw me a little because I knew the ring was not my present so I thought maybe my suspicions about the proposal were wrong.

After we were seated, he gave me my present. It's a beautiful pair of small diamond stud earrings. I've always wanted a pair like this. Small enough to be casual to wear with jeans and such. I was thrilled. Then he gave me this card that was just adorable and talked about how glad he was that we were together. Then he said that since I already had the earrings, I might want something to match them. He pulled out the ring and proposed. It was very special.

I have no memory of eating at the brunch. I was in a state of shock - staring at my hand and alternating between thinking "did this really just happen?" and "holy crap I'm engaged!"

After brunch, we wandered outside for a bit and then drove down to Woodbridge to visit Mike's parents. His mom is having surgery so we wanted her to see the ring before she went into the hospital.

His parents were really happy and so was his brother. His brother was giving him crap about not getting down on one knee. I was totally ok with the no one knee thing because if he had done that in the middle of the restaurant, I would have died. I'm not big on public displays.

But it was adorable because when we got back to my apartment, Mike took off the ring, got down on one knee, and proposed again. It was so sweet and special.

So I got to say yes twice.

And now I'm engaged. CRAZY. The questions are all staring so eventually we'll have to start thinking about the when, where, what, etc. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy being engaged.

The Big Meeting

Yes, yes, I know. I've been slacking off with the blog! Here's what's been going on.

Two weekends ago, Mike's parents and my parents met for the first time. I will go on record as saying that I was kind of against this meeting. I thought it would be weird from them to meet while we were "just" dating. It seemed odd. But, Mike REALLY wanted it to happen so I gave in.

We each drove our parents to Maggianos. It's one of the few places where my dad will eat without complaining. We proceeded to order way too much food. I swear that we had enough for 3 meals. Needless to say, there were many doggie bags to go home.

Dinner went really well. My mom and Mike's dad kept the conversation flowing. There were no awkward silences. I think that I was the most quiet which is not typical. I'd been stressed earlier in the day by my parents asking me a million and one questions about where my future was heading. That's enough to stress anyone out!

So the first meeting is over. Now on to more. . .

Where did the time go?

Yikes! It's been awhile since I posted. I don't know where the last month went. It was nutty.

For part of the month, I was caught up in Olympic madness. I love the Olympics. I watch all kinds of sports that I would never watch during any other time - like skiing and ski jumping. But by the end of the Olympics, I was ready for it to be over. I'm good for another 2 years until the Summer Olympics of 2012.

For the last couple of days, I've been sick with a cold. It started on Saturday night. By Sunday, I could not talk because my throat was so sore. I stayed home from work on Monday and came home early on Tuesday. I'm hoping that the worst of it is behind me!!

I'm also a bit stressed about this coming weekend. M has been pushing for the "parents meeting." On Saturday, my parents and his parents are going to meet for the first time. We are all going to dinner. I kind of feel like it's a meeting of the Jets and the Sharks (the gangs in West Side Story). Like them, we are meeting on neutral ground to avoid a rumble. I'm not sure why I am so nervous about this meeting. I'm sure that everyone will get along fine. It just seems weird to me to have this meeting. I'm not really sure what the purpose is. I just hope that we do not run out of things to talk about. I'm pretty sure that with my mother there, a lack of conversation will not be an issue, but I'm still nervous.