I suck at blogging

I'm sorry that I suck at blogging.  I have a thing about feeling like people can't possibly care about my boring, day to day life.  Here is my attempt to get over it.  This is sure to be a bit random, so sorry about that.

As you know, I am working at St. Thomas.  This has been a very weird experience for me because on paper it is so similar to Concordia.  In reality, they don't have much in common.  Almost every day I have a moment that makes me so thankful for my experience at Concordia.  It prepared me so well for graduate school and life.

My supervisor is awesome.  Her name is Vanessa and she has been my saving grace.  I have learned so much from her in the last semester and she has really helped me grow.  I also have some pretty cool co-workers, which makes going to work much better.  Specifically Caitlin.  She was my first St. Thomas friend.  We met at visit day for the Leadership in Student Affairs program last year.  We are the same age and both from the southwest suburbs.  We are also about the same height, so we have a lot in common.  Although there are 11 graduate students working at St. Thomas in all different areas, Caitlin works in the Anderson Student Center with me.  Unfortunately she is moving to a residence hall next year, but it will just force me to work on my relationship skills.

Which brings me to something I have been struggling with.  Life balance.  I feel like I never see any friends.  I feel like I never see any family.  I feel like I never see Josh.  Maybe it's because I am grounded to campus every three weeks for ASC duty.  Maybe it's because I suck at staying in contact with people.  Maybe it's because my car sucks and I don't trust it to drive more than 10 minutes away (I've been home a few times, but it is TERRIFYING driving on 35E... I'm that car in the right lane driving 55 in the 70 zone).  Maybe I just suck at staying in contact.  I think it's all of the above.  Just know that I am trying.  I know that I need to try harder, and I'm working on it.  I promise I still love you.

This is my personal weakness, heightened by my attempt to balance working full time, going to school full time, planning a wedding, moving closer to home, and still having relationships.  Believe me, the situation has caused a few breakdowns.

School.  What can I say?  I am my usual geeked-out self.  I just love school, so much.  It is even more fun now that I am studying things that I have a passion for.  Last semester I took Introduction to Student Affairs (what is student affairs?), Learning Centered Practice (learning about developmental theory and creating my own theory based on my experiences), and Research Design, Analysis, and Critique (did a research project on the opening of the student center).  Most first years do not take the research class.  It was very challenging, but I'm glad I did it.  It will give me a break next fall semester.

This semester I am taking Future Trends in Student Affairs (what's coming up), Administrative Leadership (how to run student affairs department), and my Internship course (talking about my experiences at the ASC).  Things are going well but I really don't like my administrative course.  The professor is new to the program and it is very clear.  I'm not sure she will be coming back.

Not much more has been done with the wedding.  We had met with Byerly's about the cake, but they ended up blowing us off.  I recently learned of a friend's cousin (thanks REB!) who happens to be opening a bakery.  We met with her and are very excited to work with her (Sunny Cakes, you can look her up on facebook).  I am in the process of trying to figure out where I am going to get my hair and makeup done.  These two things have been some of the most stressful things so far, which is just ridiculous.

Josh and I printed all of our invitations yesterday and I will be working all week to try to get them put together.  Things have gone fairly smoothly so far.  Not bad for recovering from the stomach flu last week (which was awful! First time!).  Cal's birthday party was fun.  He smashed all of his little cake without eating any of it, so cute.  Unfortunately this was where I got the flu.  Josh, both his parents, and his cousin's boyfriend also got it.  Yikes.

On a more pleasant note, I had a surprise visit a few weeks ago (yay Lynpyg!).  It was so nice to see a friend that I haven't seen for so long.  It also sparked being able to see a few other friends, which was really nice.

Thursday is my birthday and our anniversary.  The other day I actually had to count how old I was because I had forgotten.  I'm not sure what this says about me, but it may explain the way things have been going for me lately :)  Josh and I will have been together for 7 years on Thursday.  Not sick of him yet!  I have a fun dinner with decorations planned, so keep an eye out for pictures and an update.

In summary, life has been good but crazy, look for invitations soon, and please don't hate me for sucking at being a friend/cousin/sister/daughter/niece/girlfriend right now.

Countdown

Sometime in September, I downloaded a countdown application.  That number is now down to 139.  139 is a weird number, it seems so big and yet so small.

About once a week, I have a moment of looking at my countdown.  First a moment of joy because the number is going down, then a moment of panic because I'm afraid I won't get everything done.

Then I realize that almost everything that can be done, is done.  The moment is gone... until next week.

Just working on the cake now.  We went to Byerly's, but haven't heard anything since so we are headed in another direction.

In honor of counting down

What I have been up to over the last month...

SO much has happened since my last post.  Sorry I have been slacking, it seems like time is passing so fast.  I am really happy because that means it is closer to the big day, but it is also hard to believe!  We have been BUSY.  I was never able to post the pictures of my dress and the bridesmaid dress.  I don't have access to my real-life models in the dress, but here is the company's picture.  We will be getting them in black with a white sash that will be tied in the back, not the front. 

I received confirmation that the dresses have been ordered this week and their ETA is around the middle of March.

My last semester of working preparing to open the Anderson Student Center at St. Thomas is about to come to an end.  We officially open on Tuesday at 7am.  Here is a little preview of my new office.

Save the dates have been ordered and sent out to most people.  We are still waiting on a few addresses, hoping to send those out very soon.  We made a guest book out of our engagement photos and received just after Christmas.  It looks really good, and hopefully will be a good way to keep our guests' names and photos in a place we might actually look at them again.

A very blurry version of the cover of the Guest Book

A very blurry version of the Save The Date

The DJ has been booked.  We went with Instant Request DJ because they had a really good deal and have won Minnesota Bride DJ of the year for the last 5 years or so.  Josh was pretty excited to see that they also did Justin Morneau's wedding.

After our meeting with the church coordinator (which was hilarious, but kind of a long story ending in her giving us hugs goodbye), we started planning out the readings and songs for our ceremony.  I think we have our readings picked out, but not so much with the songs.  I am really struggling because I don't want to do the same old songs that everyone does, but I can't find anything better.  This may be a case where I need to bite the bullet and go with tradition because they truly have worked all the kinks out :)

Christmas was really nice and a success.  We had a really good time with Josh's parents and Jeremiah and Amber and the boys (who loved our gifts... score!) and then made our way to Moorhead together for the first time for Christmas.  It was really nice to get to spend the holiday together.  On New Year's Eve day we also went to Josh's grandparents in southwestern Minnesota which was fun.

Somewhere in there we have also been working on our registries at Target and Macy's.  Both places are telling us that we don't have near enough on them, but we are trying our best!  We already have a few things purchased, which is really funny.

Target

Macy's

Right before Christmas, we stopped by the Holiday Inn in Lakeville to check it out before we set up a block.  We loved it, and they provide a shuttle to The Legends and back!  If you are out there reading this and thinking about booking a hotel room, you should.  They won't charge you anything if you set it up then cancel it up to 6pm the night of the wedding.

Holiday Inn

After working with a travel agent (thanks Rachel!) to look at honeymoon options, we decided to go to the Riviera Maya in Mexico.  We haven't booked it yet, but the options are AMAZING!  Booking is one of the next things on our to-do list.

Can't wait!

Also over the holidays, we went to The Legends to test out the food, which was so good it was hard to pick.  We talked with the coordinator there to get some ideas and took pictures of the site so we can plan decorations from afar.

My favorite decoration idea (for the bathroom doors)

Last Saturday, we went on a major role heading for a cake testing (yum!) and then picking out tuxes.  Josh picked a new, super light one which ended up being a little expensive, so we will probably switch to a less expensive one to help the guys out a little.

 This is the cake we like best so far.  We would want it in white with the "pearls" white and the decorative top design in black.  We are also thinking about doing a blue ribbon along the base (and removing the monogram and strawberries).

After all that, we went to check out some invitations we had our eye on and were able to purchase them ON SALE.  Can't beat that.

Here are the invites.  Should be fun to assemble :)

 
Coming up we will be working on the invites, trying to figure out the rehearsal dinner, deciding on our cake, booking the honeymoon, finding accessories, and getting Josh's wedding band.

Not to mention our trip to New York over the first weekend in February.  It just so happens to be NYC Restaurant Week and Broadway Week.  I am really hoping to get to a show while we are there.

Semester's end

It's that time of year again.  The semester is almost over.  That means I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

Thanksgiving was a good time.  A much needed break filled with time with family and fun.  Josh and I made the trip with his parents to his grandparents' house.  After coming home, I made the trek out at 5am with my parents for some black Friday shopping.  There wasn't much that we needed this year, so we got to sleep in a little.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving I made it up to Sauk Rapids to buy my dress.  It is set to be delivered in April!  We also somehow managed to find the perfect bridesmaid dress on the first trip.  Double score!

The pictures turned out.  They are a little artsy, so we will be talking with our photographer about getting a little more traditional shots for our wedding.  Good to know before the big day.  Save-the-date cards have been ordered.  We should be getting them sometime this week.  Now I'm working on the guest book.

Still no DJ.  We have a really good bid, so we may be sending the deposit in tomorrow.  We'll see what Josh says tonight.

Josh and I babysat for his nephews on Saturday and Callahan was dedicated on Sunday.  Tonight, we are meeting with the wedding coordinator from Shepherd of the Lake.  We are also trying to get our Christmas shopping done tonight.

Somewhere between all this I am managing to squeeze some homework in.  REALLY looking forward to the end of the semester. Only 2 weeks left!

208 days until the big day!

Thanksgiving for good vendors

My appointment is set to purchase my dress.  I will be heading to the St. Cloud area with some backup on Saturday.
Still working on the whole DJ thing.  Maybe this weekend we will figure it out!

The pictures went really well yesterday.  Laura is really nice and we should be getting them back in a couple of weeks.  We went to the Walker Art Center and Sculpture Garden.  It was fun since we had the first snow of the year!


I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving full of fun times with family!  I, for one, am really looking forward to the short week!

Success

The last week has been a success.

I found my dress at the Wedding Shoppe.  I will be going to a store near St. Cloud to buy it though, better service and more extras thrown in for a better price.  Even for wedding stuff, I can't resist a good deal :)

We finally received the quotes from both florists, which made it pretty easy to decide which one to go with.  Just need to send in the deposit now!

On Thursday we went to an open house for a DJ.  It was super fun and we participated in some free dance lessons.

Just got back last night from Josh's friend Adam's wedding.  It was super fun, and I am now considering all weddings as research!  I will try to post a couple of pictures soon.

We are currently working on finalizing our guest list so we can send out Christmas save-the-dates.  Coming up next:
-Engagement picture session this Sunday
-Buying my dress
-Book our DJ
-Call hotels to set up block details
-Pick Bridesmaid dresses over Thanksgiving
-Meet with Sandy from Shepherd of the Lake to plan out the ceremony details

We (I) want this all done by our meeting with Sandy on December 5th.  Good luck?  I think we can do it!  It feels like we are getting a lot done pretty quickly, which is nice because we only have 229 days left to do everything.  Until next week, have a great one :)

Homework and Planning

Two weekends ago, Josh and I jumped in the car with his parents to go visit some family.  It was really nice to see all of them after not having seen them for at least a few months.  We carved some pumpkins, played games, and went out to eat to celebrate our engagement.

Josh and I spent a very uneventful Halloween hanging out at my apartment and watching The Fighter.  We set out with the best of intentions to find a slightly Halloween themed movie on netflix, but since I am such a chicken, it didn't work out :)  I was really bummed that I didn't get any trick-or-treaters.  I guess that's what I get for living around many apartment buildings and no houses.

This last week I attended the Association of College Unions International Regional Conference in Grand Forks, ND.  The conference itself was a little disappointing, but I got to see Melissa and Hailey, so that made it worth it.  It was very weird to drive through the F-M area and not see anyone.  I did not like it!

Almost everyone in my cohort for school is having a major breakdown right now.  Our workload is getting heavier, so I kind of understand where they are coming from.  However, this is one of the many reasons that I am so appreciative of Concordia.  I really think that Concordia and all of the people there helped push me to challenge myself.  People always talk about how the transition to Grad. school is so hard, but it hasn't been that bad for me... so far. Go Cobbers!

We finally got ahold of our photographer and have a tentative date set for our engagement pictures: Saturday, November 19th!  Still trying to figure out what we are going to wear, but we will figure it out. I am also heading with my mom to The Wedding Shoppe with my mom tonight to try on some dresses.  I'm excited to see how it works out and am hoping to find "the one" or maybe "the few."

We met with 2 different florists last week and are currently waiting for the quote from the second one.  We got some great ideas from both of them, and this is the first thing that makes the wedding feel "real." I'm not sure why that is, but I think it is because it's the first physical plan we have made.  We should be getting the quote soon, so hopefully have the decision made by the end of the week.  I feel like we have so much done, but nothing done at the same time.  I'm not really sure what to think about this feeling.  I am slowly but surely making check marks on my to-do list, so I can't be too far behind.

We are going to a wedding this weekend, so hopefully I will have a few pictures to show next week.  I am really looking forward to seeing some friends and relaxing.

Have a great week everyone!